Charles Merredew, of Merrickville, builds dry stone walls. While he was building his latest one, the ground handed him something he did not expect: two hand-carved stones, buried right where he was working.
Here is how he tells it:
Two of these hand carved stone needles were found buried in the ground of my latest dry stone wall. I incorporated both of them back to back as a feature of the wall. The needles, as far as can be determined, are guides for tow ropes, from when barges were drawn by animals along canals. The needles would be stationed every 50 feet, and the tow rope would be hitched and unhitched from the draw rope as the boat moved into or out of the lock.
We love this for the same reason we love most of what comes through our doors. Somebody carved those stones by hand to do one small job, over and over, and if Charles has it right, that job was on a working canal. The job ended, the stones went into the ground, and they could easily have stayed there. Instead they turned up in the hands of someone who builds with stone, and he gave them a place where they will be seen again.
That is reuse at its most honest. Nothing was bought or sold. A thing was found, understood as well as it could be, and put back to work, this time as part of a wall.
Thank you, Charles. If you have an old piece with a story, from us or from anywhere, we would love to hear it. Share it with us here.
Shared by Charles Merredew. You can find him on Facebook.
