Most houses, offices, or indeed many buildings put up a fence or wall around their premises to define the curtilage of their site. Yet as the years have gone by we have paid less interest to their design or quality. Although made of relatively weatherproof material, treated timber or galvanised metal mesh many are basic and plain with no redeeming features.

So it is of interest to know there are still some interesting walls around!

These images are of a wall on the outskirts of Brighton that has stayed the test of time, my guess between 150 - 175 years old. The private estate it once surrounded has long gone, having been divided up and sold over the years to allow for several smaller housing developments, some of much lower quality than the wall containing them!

The wall itself is solid brick with a large curved stone capping piece to each pier. The stone cappings are weathered but still hold their original carved circular details. The bricks, Sussex reds and probably hand-made, are starting to de-laminate [where the top layer becomes weathered and weakened with frost, etc and finally flakes off leaving a rough coarse finish]. The design is quite simple and includes whole bricks in a Flemish garden wall bond or Sussex bond, curved brick copings to the top of the main walls and with moulded brick string courses above and below the cut-out features. Some of the mortar has fall out in parts, but on the whole the wall is in great condition considering its age and the lack of maintenance it receives; undoubtedly due to it now being under shared ownership.

Interestingly it seems not to have suffered from graffiti artists and contains an abundance of insect life living within the brick pockets. The adjacent pathway is a busy one and many people stroll pass this wall oblivious to its presence, and I guess that's possibly the sign of a successful wall!