Old Riding: Wall gap (step-down repairs)
On the footpath (Halifax 527) that goes down the hillside just above the dwellings at Old Riding (see map) Jan and Frank H were reconstructing the access where the right-of-way passes through a low retaining wall between two fields.
This work has been funded by general donations to CROWS. Many thanks.
The detail.
The location is stunning. On this fine Autumn day the panorama down the hillside over the roof tops of Kiln House was extensive and breath-taking. Unfortunately we were so task-focused that we forgot to take a photo!
However, where the path passes through a wall between two fields, the stonework has slipped to leave slippery badly angled surfaces. Picture 1 shows the situation after cutting-back and clearing some of the worst stones.
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| Picture 1: Uphill view of cleared gap. The perspective is deceptive - the ground is steep and very slippery. |
The main problems here are:
i) The route through the wall is tricky to negotiate. Any flat surfaces were either buried or tilted.
ii) The wall-end to the left is precarious. The way the top tiers have been placed has produced courses that wobble and are on the point of slipping!
The plan was to create a safe route either by using existing stonework or by installing wooden steps. The left hand wall-end will be minimally dismantled and then re-stabilised. The right hand wall-end, although 'ugly', was stable and, given the size of the interlocking stonework, was judged to be best left undisturbed!
The work.
Picture 2 shows an up-slope view. A flat 'take-off slab' has been embedded and a riser for the first step has been installed. These two actions have stabilised the lower end of the steps.
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| Picture 2: |
Picture 3 shows the end of session. The first step-up has a large flat stone surface as the tread area. The next two steps (perspective is difficult) are created from existing stonework and lead on to the top two wooden steps and then into the upper field. The left-hand wall-end has been re-configured (compare with Picture 1) and is now stable.
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| Picture 3: |
