Saturday, April 30, 2011

Word of the day: Crinkle-crankle

Crinkle-crankle - great word isn't it? And here's a picture of one:
A crinkle-crankle is basically a wobbly wall - one that undulates along its length. They were originally designed to grow fruit trees on. The waves increase the length of wall that faces the right way to have maximum sunlight.  The bends also make the wall stronger so they don't need buttressing.

They were common features of 18th century gardens but fell out of fashion and are rarely seen on modern developments. So I was delighted to find this one along the back of a Tesco car park in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.

4 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Morning AJ .. I have never heard of a wall by that name .. very interesting and the reasons for it .. such fun! Thanks too for giving us a photo of one ..

Really informative .. cheers to the crinkle-crankle walls .. good to lean up against with a glass of bubbly at the end of the A - Z Challenge! .... Hilary

Sandra Davies said...

There's at least a couple of these old walls in Suffolk, only more crinkle-crankled that the Tesco's one.

[and congratulations on getting your novel published!]

Akelamalu said...

I didn't know that! Thanks for the info and the picture. :)

Anonymous said...

I've never seen it before. Now I want to see one live.

- Alice