Location
Burford, Oxfordshire
Stone
Cotswold limestone, laid dry
Scope
Collapsed head of a roadside retaining wall taken down and rebuilt to a level line

The problem

A retaining wall holds ground back, so when its head starts to break up the problem does not stay still — loose stone works its way out, water gets into the core, and the failure widens. This one ran along the pavement directly beneath the house, with the top courses collapsed and stone spilling toward the road.

What we did

The failed section was taken down and rebuilt in Cotswold limestone, laid dry, back to a level line that follows the pavement and ties into the sound work at either end.

Roadside retaining drystone wall in Burford before repair, its top courses collapsed with loose stone spilling toward the kerb
Before: the head broken up, stone working out toward the road.
The same Burford retaining wall rebuilt, with a level line of coping stones running the length of the frontage
After: rebuilt to a level line, tied into the sound work at each end.

The result

A wall that holds its ground again, and a street elevation that no longer has a collapse in the middle of it. Jackson's called it "tidying up a retaining drystone wall" — which undersells it slightly.