Killcreggan

I finished the stretches of dyke in Kilcreggan. As is often the case, I ran short of stone and had to borrow from the heaps around the gardens. Although the original wall tipped over, it was built with much skill. The facing was tight and, for a wall of such height and narrowness, it is standing well. In fact it is narrower at the base than many walls only two thirds its height and this is maybe part of its problem. But not all. The hearting is a bit sparse inside and, now a century has passed, it has settled and migrated down a bit . This is why we often run short of stone. The guys, like most workers back in the day, were paid low rates by the yard and chucked the hearting in to build the walls up fast and thicken their paypacket. As with most jobs, the rate of pay is fairer now and so we build walls with stouter hearts, at least we should. And building them tighter like this uses more stone. Despite all this, those men built a good wall that is, barr the odd repair, still standing straight and true long after they passed.