{"id":15719,"date":"2025-10-13T14:42:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceidiog.com\/pr\/?p=15719"},"modified":"2025-10-13T14:46:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:46:22","slug":"north-wales-craftsman-restoring-capability-brown-wall-after-string-of-national-honours-and-job-for-king-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceidiog.com\/pr\/pr\/north-wales-craftsman-restoring-capability-brown-wall-after-string-of-national-honours-and-job-for-king-charles\/","title":{"rendered":"North Wales craftsman restoring Capability Brown wall after string of national honours and job for King Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A historic garden feature by legendary 18th<\/sup> century landscape designer Capability Brown is being restored by a talented young dry stone waller from North Wales.<\/p>\n

Barney Murray, from Llandyrnog, in Denbighshire, whose impressive CV includes King Charles\u2019s country residence at Highgrove, has begun work on a ha-ha, a sunken stone wall at Wynnstay Hall, the historic home of the Williams-Wynn family near Ruabon.<\/p>\n

Barney, 26, said: \u201cRestoring a Capability Brown ha-ha is probably a once in a lifetime job \u2013 it\u2019s been here for over 200 years and hopefully I\u2019m going to make sure it\u2019s here for another 200 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ha-ha was built to prevent animals like deer and sheep getting into the shrubbery and eating everything and it extends around it for several hundred yards, all in stone, with no mortar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not rebuilding it the way I would build it \u2013 I\u2019m doing it the way those 18th<\/sup> century stonemasons would have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Pictured Barney Murray Drystone waller at the Wynnstay Estate Ruabon.
Picture Mandy Jones<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s been a whirlwind 18 months for Barney who is fresh from building a dry stone wall on an island in the Outer Hebrides<\/p>\n

He has become the first Welsh dry stone waller to be awarded Master Craftsman status in 30 years while an art installation, named Cerrigoerion (Cold Stones in Welsh), made for the prestigious New Brewery Arts Centre in Cirencester from a demolished Vale of Clwyd farmhouse, was also displayed at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham.<\/p>\n

There it was submitted in the Lle Celf section where it won the People\u2019s Choice, award chosen by the public and Barney said: \u201cI am a Welsh-speaker and I\u2019m a regular visitor to the Eisteddfod so it was special for me to be recognised there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November last year he was the first winner of the Young Building Craftsperson of the Year Award,<\/strong> supported by English Heritage and including a \u00a31,000 prize which was presented to him at a special ceremony at Eltham Palace, in London.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year Barney was working in the Cotswolds when a friend needed some help restoring a spectacular fountain in the grounds of Highgrove \u2013 that involved Barney being vetted by security services before he could lend a hand.<\/p>\n

And the awards kept coming with Barney crowned Dry Stone Wall Grand Prix winner this summer after a series of six events held in Scotland, Cumbria, Lancashire, Yorkshire and the Swansea Valley.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cDry stone walling goes back centuries and there are lots of dry stone walling competitions and I managed to win the British Grand Prix this year including the event at Gwrhyd Quarry in the Swansea Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes me British Champion and Welsh champion while I suppose I am a World Champion after winning the only international dry stonewalling event at Trentino in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, in 2022, because there aren\u2019t any other international competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such an amazing thing to do. I went to school in the Vale of Clwyd but I wasn\u2019t very academic but in the Sixth Form at Denbigh High School I had an amazing art teacher, Simon Sherrington, and he inspired me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always loved art and I knew I wanted to do something that involved working with my hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did enrol on an Arts Foundation course in Wrexham but then I met two dry stone wallers, Sion Alun Rogers and Xander Robertson, and just went off to work with them and never went back to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a stressful job. There\u2019s never anything to worry about other than if there\u2019s enough stone.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to work is just pure joy. There are no downsides to working and so I don\u2019t struggle to sleep at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a gang of us across the country and I can bring others in to help but on this job at the Wynnstay Estate I can manage on my own and with it being Grade Two-listed the Conservation Officer is happy with my work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to restore a Capability Brown Ha-Ha so I\u2019m going to make the most of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made a good start and if the weather is good I think I can do it in a couple of months and I\u2019ve got plenty of work looking ahead so I\u2019m happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I do is a craft as old as man using a material that\u2019s older than time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey talk about the oldest profession but people have been piling stones one on top of another since the beginning of time and that\u2019s what I do and I give a 100-year guarantee on everything I build.\u201d<\/p>\n

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