Stone walls along with hedgerows were built to make clear boundaries on a farm and to stop animals escaping. However the stone walls themselves contain many hiding places for small insects and reptiles and provide shelter for small mammals, creating wonderful habitats. Tiny plants can also grow in the holes of the wall.

However stone walls are not needed so much now, they have often been replaced by fences for jobs such as stock control. Stone walls required a lot of maintenance and building them was rather tricky.