The art of dry stone walling: master craftsman Tom Trouton talks to Tracie Beardsley about finding a stone’s timeless connection to the landscape
Tom Trouton tells me his head is “full”. And how! It’s impossible not to be captivated by his passion for his craft, his knowledge of geology and his deep love of the landscape. We meet at his house in Castle Cary – a lockdown project to keep both his head and skilful hands occupied. He’s transformed a modest 1960s bungalow into a stunning dry stone clad home within a walled garden now jam-packed with tropical plants.
It’s soon clear that the melodic noise of a hammer ringing on stone – a ‘tchock, tchock’ sound that Tom mimics perfectly – has been the soundtrack to his life since childhood.
‘I grew up on Exmoor, always outdoors playing,’ he says. ‘When I was about ten, I decided to build a den. I borrowed my father’s pickaxe and hammer to cut through some stone to make a pathway. But what to do with all the stone? I stacked it up … and that was my first dry stone wall. It was tiny, but as a kid I thought I’d built Hadrian’s Wall!’
He still owns the hammer he used that day. Family photo albums show him as a little boy holding stones – Tom would spend hours watching the “old boys” on Exmoor patiently building walls with no mortar. ‘I’d spend my summer holidays patching up holes and learning the techniques from these real old characters.’
He met Heather, his wife of 28n years, on a blind date. He moved to south Somerset where he was a postie in the morning and in the afternoons he gardened and walled. He also worked in a local quarry where he met another great mentor.
‘The quarry owner, Brian Trevis, was an amazing man. He taught me so much about the local stone. Geologically, there’s lots of different stone in this area; Shaftesbury Green, Cary Stone, Ham, Blue Lias … local to North Dorset is my favourite, Forest Marble.’
In 2005, Tom set up his own landscaping business. One of his first jobs was in Jersey, at a mansion formerly belonging to the island’s chief minister. He was tasked with creating hundreds of metres of walls … and building an amphitheatre. The massive undertaking involved three quarters of a million tonnes of soil and rock that had to be sorted. It was here his stepson Liam was trained by Tom, learning his craft on one of the ‘hardest stones to work with’.
‘He’s an absolute natural,’ says Tom proudly. Liam is now a partner in the business, and Tom’s son Joseph, also a talented waller, works with him too. And business is booming.
‘I had 19 people working for me at one stage earlier this year. I didn’t enjoy that. I feel a responsibility to my team – at heart I’m not a businessman, I’m a craftsman.’
Being his own severest critic, perfectionist Tom trains everyone who works with him. ‘A lot of people think they can wall, but they can’t. It’s a fluid process. You’ve got to be guided by the stone. I visualise exactly what I‘m looking for, then read the stones I’ve got and see how they can come together.’
Stone apples
It was a quote for just one wall that led Tom to his most prestigious client – The Newt in Somerset. He’s now been working for the private country estate and exclusive hotel for nine years.
‘A branch had fallen off an oak tree and The Newt’s owner, Koos Bekker, asked me to incorporate it into a dry stone wall. Spectacular! After that, I was asked to create stone sheep using iron-shot Sherborne stone, making their black heads with Mendip stone. Some people will look at them and see sheep. Some will just see rocks!’
And what gift to give a multi-millionaire client?
‘I‘d been working at The Newt for four years and thought the project was coming to end. I’d always fancied having a go at stone sculpture, and the theme of The Newt is apples. I used a template of an actual apple from my own garden, and I created a stone apple. My nephew Alex had the idea to make it look like someone had taken a bite out of it. Koos loved it!’
Tom may not (yet) have got his wished-for commission to build another stone apple for Apple HQ in California, but that first one led to many more – along with acorns, cherries, pears, trees and waves.
‘A Cockney lady asked me to create apples and pears for her enormous landscaped garden staircase as a nod to the Cockney rhyming slang!’
He’s also immensely proud of his own Stonehenge-style creation. In conjunction with the Arts Development Council, Tom helped build the Black Down Stone Circle near Hardy’s Monument. Five “totems” built from local Forest Marble stone are perfectly aligned, one with true north and the other four with the midwinter and midsummer solstice sunrises and sunsets. In clear conditions, the Sun’s full disc shines through an opening in one of the totems, lighting up a central rock of Portland stone.
‘It was a real challenge, but so incredible when I witnessed it working perfectly.’
Tom is proud to give what he calls ‘comfort to the landscape’: ‘I aim to create walls that complement the land they are to reside in. I turn up at a job and there’s just a pile of stones.
That is traditional dry stone walling. You use what is lying around – part of the environment – and you rearrange it to form a boundary that blends with the existing backdrop.
‘It’s always an incredible honour to rebuild a wall which you know someone worked on hundreds of years ago. Hands from the past touched the stones the exact same way you are.’
With such a busy head, Tom admits he finds it hard switching off from work. ‘I love what I do. I’ll never retire.’ When he relaxes he goes wild swimming – but he doesn’t take a dip in a river. He swims in an old quarry, surrounded by more inspiration to fill his head.
You can see Tom in action at The Gillingham and Shaftesbury Show on Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th August,where he’ll be creating a memorial stone sheep wall to celebrate the Show’s 30th anniversary at Turnpike Showground.
