Crinkle Crankle Walls

My good friend Lisa Oldham reminded me of these beautiful features yesterday. Incredibly, a wavy 'Crinkle Crankle' wall uses fewer bricks than a conventional straight wall.

It's true! 

Because the curves give the wall added stability, a wavy wall can be one brick thick instead of the traditional two or more. 

Since becoming popular in the United Kingdom, wavy walls have spread to other countries, including the United States. Wavy walls are gorgeous, great for growing fruit trees in the alcoves. A Suffolk historian called Norman Scarfe began compiling a list of such walls in 1960s and the list continues to be updated by a chap called Ed Broom who has now found over 100. 'Every time I think I’m done, another one appears', he says.

A lot of Crinkle Crankle walls are found in East Anglia where Dutch engineers drained the marshes of The Fens in the 17th century. These engineers are thought to be the original builders of the serpentine walls in the UK. 

Back then, the Dutch called them slangenmuur - 'snake walls.'

Lovely aren't they?