Shandon

Before and after shots for a repair in Shandon. This retaining wall had collapsed a short time ago. Narrow stones placed poorly on sloping bedrock at the base and two or three budlia growing on top made it fall. I cut more bedrock out, with an axe of all things, and laid the base stones across the wall to give more stability. It is part of the boundary wall of the kitchen garden for one of the big old houses cut into the hillside at Shandon. Eight gardeners once tended the stuff destined for the table of the big house on the other side of the burn. There are few vegetables at the moment but the vegetation is so luxuriant that at least one entire glass house lay concealed and I only ever saw one corner of the garden. Although it is not large, I still have no idea of its extent.

Barrhead

Repairs and reshaping to the drive meant this drystone retaining wall in Barrhead had to be pushed back into the bank. We took the wall down and cut the bank back. This is the after shot with the wall rebuilt. You can see the original line where the monoblock is crooked. The slope is steep though it may not look too bad in this picture We cut steps into it and ran the stone courses in horizontally. This should have been easy enough, but the last few weeks have been very wet and the slope was a mud slide.

Bearsden

Here are some sort of before and after shots for a job I did in Bearsden recently. The gardens climb steeply here onto a fairly high ridge covered in mature trees. The school at one end of the ridge down in Drumchapel is called Drummore and preserves the Gaelic name for the feature. The wall was built high up, where the long garden met the woods and getting the stone up was exhausting. I am glad that part at least is over. Its not far from Garscadden wood nature reserve and I think it is surrounded in a way by houses so it's a wildlife haven on the edge of the city. Two weeks ago I heard and then glimpsed a raven above the trees. It was a pleasant surprise but it must have been a visitor because I haven't seen or heard it since.