Blandford Forum, Dorset
Knapped Flint Boundary Wall, Blandford Forum
A failed cement-pointed wall rebuilt in knapped flint with brick lacing courses and lime mortar.
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Service
Stonework & Flint Walling in Dorset
Purbeck and Portland stone, knapped flint, random rubble and dry stone – the county's own way of building.
Dorset has its own building vocabulary – Purbeck stone, Portland stone, knapped flint with brick banding, random rubble and cob – and planning officers across the county increasingly ask for it on new work in sensitive settings.
We build and repair in all of it: new stone elevations and boundary walls, flint panels with brick quoins and lacing courses, and repair work to old rubble walls that have been patched badly in cement over the years.
What's included
- Purbeck and Portland stone walling and facing
- Knapped and cobble flint work with brick banding and quoins
- Random rubble and coursed rubble walling
- Dry stone walling and repair
- Lime mortar bedding, pointing and galleting
- Stone cills, heads, quoins, copings and steps
- Conservation repair to failed cement-pointed rubble walls
- Stone cladding and feature elevations on new build
Flint walling
Flint is slow work and there is no shortcut. Knapped faces have to be selected and set, the lifts have to be kept low so the lime mortar can take up, and the brick lacing courses have to run true across the panel. Rushed flint work looks rushed forever.
It is also one of the most striking finishes in the county when it is done well, and it is why we still take the time to do it by hand.
Repairing old rubble walls
Most of the failing stone boundary walls we are asked to look at across rural Dorset failed the same way: hard cement pointing applied over soft lime bedding, which trapped water in the core of the wall until frost pushed the face off. The repair is to take the cement out, rebuild the failed face, and repoint in lime so the wall can breathe again.
Case studies
Stonework & Flint we have done
Straight answers
Stonework & Flint: your questions
Is stonework more expensive than brick?
Yes, typically two to three times the cost of an equivalent area of facing brickwork, because the material costs more and the laying is far slower – stone has to be selected, sometimes dressed, and built in shallower lifts. For a feature elevation or a wall that has to satisfy a planning condition, most people find it worth it.
Can you match the stone on an existing Dorset property?
In most cases yes. Purbeck and Portland stone are both still quarried locally and we source through Dorset yards. For older reclaimed rubble walls we blend salvaged material from the wall itself with new to keep the character consistent.
Do you do dry stone walling?
Yes – new dry stone walls and repair or rebuilding of collapsed sections, built with proper throughs, hearting and a coping, not just faced up and filled behind.
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Free, no-obligation quote
Thinking about a project?
Tell us what you have in mind. We will come out, take a proper look, and send you a written quote with no obligation and no sales call afterwards.