Dry stone walling is or dry laid stone work is stone construction without the use of mortar. Dry stone work is usually used for fences and retaining walls but is also used for stair cases, bridges and can be creatively used for many other purposes.
The best looking and best fitting stones are saved for the face of the wall (the visible portion of the wall). The stones are carefully stacked to maximize their stability and minimize the space between the surrounding stones. The space between the two faces of the wall is filled with smaller stones or harding. The purpose of harding is to stabilize the face stones by filling all the spaces in the wall and giving the face stones no where to move.
Dry stone work is a beautiful building technique that is incredibly rugged and will last centuries with very little maintenance.
Check out our Youtube video following the construction of a 240ft long dry stone fence we are building;