Torrential rain slowed down but failed to stop a team of volunteer drystone wallers, who rebuilt a 200-metre stretch of wall in the grounds of East Riddlesden Hall.

People involved with the two-and-a-half-year project – in which the hall linked up with Craven College – celebrated the final completion at a topping off ceremony last Wednesday afternoon.

The wall runs along the Riverside Walk and replaces an earlier stone wall which had been in a very poor condition.

Volunteers leader David Wadsworth, a part-time drystone wall tutor at Craven College in Skipton, said: “Last year we had to battle with the wettest summer on record for Yorkshire.

“The field was flooded and for three months after that we couldn’t have stone delivered because the ground was too waterlogged to drive over. It was like a lake down there. That probably set us back by six months – I had originally seen it as a two-year project.

“It hasn’t been easy but there’s always been a team of regulars that made it work. Over the course of the project we got 30 people qualified in walling and 12 of them are making some sort of living from that. We’re pleased that we’ve finished but we’re looking for other jobs.”