(Poem / song)

By Dave Goulder © EFDSS Music



These miles of dry stone walls

That hold in ploughed brown fields and kingly halls

The dead of centuries in hills of sand

The stones that bind them

Are proud, as what lies behind them

And varied as the counties in this curious land



In Cumberland they built them

On hills that surely must have killed them

Through broom and juniper and stunted ling

Two thousand feet over

With just a tarpaulin cover

They sat through wind and rain and waited for the spring



In Aberdeenshire valleys

The fields were only open quarries

The stone was gathered up and made to stand

But with every ploughing

You’d think it was stone they were sowing

The walls grew fatter here than any in the land



The Irish built in courses

Of single stones the size of horses

Of glacial boulders without edge or face

And if you could view them

Above, with sun lighting through them

You’d swear the hills were edged with broken granite lace



When Pict and Viking took

Stone pages from some prehistoric book

Of sandy flagstone under Orkney fields

They lingered a-while, and 

Left history in the islands

This is what water, wind and time and toil reveal



From Yorkshire’s limestone dales

Through Derbyshire, to the coast of Wales

Or Shetland’s salty rocks to Devon lanes

Just look and discover

Two walls that lean against each other

You’ll never see them in quite the same way again


Dave Goulder comments on his BEM award

Dave Goulder said, “The poem/song, ‘These Dry Stone Walls’ was an attempt to list the differing styles of dry stone building that can be viewed in the Highlands, Islands and elsewhere in the UK. I have recorded it on CD and other artists have paid me the compliment of adding it to their repertoires.


I was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in this year’s New Year’s Honours List for services to dry stone walling and to my local community. To say that the award came as a surprise is nothing short of a colossal understatement. The folk who championed my nomination kept the application under wraps for over four years. (I was astonished that my wife Mary could keep a secret that long!)


I found it strange that I am rewarded for what I see as my own selfishness in exploiting what I have enjoyed doing in the 60-odd years of my residence in the area. I am a Master dry stone mason and I have been a professional musician since the mid-60s so introducing my obsessions to the unsuspecting residents of Ross and Sutherland seems very close to self-indulgence, however I have to admit to being very grateful and somewhat flattered to be receiving this award. 


I would like to thank the supporters who thought I was worthy of their petitions.”


The 2025 New Year’s Honours List had two more recipients in Sutherland: Kyle of Sutherland Hub director and chairperson Ms Hayley Bangs MBE (Bonar Bridge) who received the award for services to the community, and Mr Brett Young MBE (West Shinness) being honoured for his services to veterans and vulnerable people in Sutherland.