The Question Mark dry stone bench – Newhaven

I built this curved dry stone bench in a garden in Newhaven, Edinburgh in the Spring of 2024.

The brief was for an interestingly shaped bench that would provide some privacy from the surrounding flats that overlook the garden, and provide seating for 8 people.

12 tonnes of Alston stone was used for the dry stone bench back, and leftover sawn sandstone pavers for the seat.  The underside of the seat was built by corbelling the stone to create an overhang – this way when you’re sitting on the bench your heels don’t the stonework.

The cheekend is 1.50m tall, the bench runs for 9.5m and falls to 0.5m tall.

You can see more examples of garden landscaping works on the projects page.

The stone was supplied by Border Aggregates in Kelso.