Location
The Cotswolds
Stone
Existing Cotswold limestone reused, with the coping run back over
Scope
New gateway opened through a 7ft dry stone wall, both cheeks rebuilt square and coped, timber gates hung

The problem

Putting a hole in a dry stone wall is the opposite of building one. A dry wall has no mortar holding it together — it stands because every stone is locked against its neighbours and the whole length leans in on itself. Cut into it and you remove that restraint, so the two new ends want to spill into the gap you have just made.

At seven feet, with vegetation grown into the top and the wall running along a lane, there was no margin for it to go wrong quietly.

Seven-foot Cotswold dry stone wall running along a lane before the work, unbroken, with vegetation growing along its coping
Before: an unbroken run of wall, cones out ready.

What we did

The opening was taken out and both cheeks rebuilt square and plumb, each one built as a proper wall end rather than a cut face — stone turned into the return so the ends lock rather than lean. The coping was run back across the top of both sides, and a timber frame set in to carry the gates.

Newly built dry stone wall cheek beside a new timber gate post, with coping stones set along the top
One side of the opening, built as a proper wall end and coped over.
The finished gateway from inside, both dry stone cheeks framing the reused timber gates
Both sides, from the garden.

The result

From the lane, nothing about the opening looks new. The coping runs unbroken across the top of it and both ends stand square. Even the gates are the originals — taken down at the start, and rehung once the stonework either side was finished.

The completed gateway seen from the lane, timber gates set into the seven-foot dry stone wall with continuous coping across the top
After: the coping runs straight across the new opening, and both sides stand square.