50 Metres of Storm Damaged Cornish Hedge Rebuilt at Chymorvah, St Ives
On 9 January 2026 Storm Goretti uprooted an ancient tree at Chymorvah in St Ives and took the dry stone retaining wall along the roadside down with it. We rebuilt 50 metres of it as a traditional Cornish hedge in three weeks, finished into the granite gate piers at the entrance.
What Storm Goretti Left Behind at Chymorvah
Storm Goretti reached Cornwall on 9 January 2026. At Chymorvah in St Ives it uprooted an ancient tree, and as the root plate lifted it pulled the dry stone retaining wall along the roadside apart, spilling stone and earth across the verge. The tree was cleared by others.
What came to us was the wall: a long run of collapsed and loosened hedge, open banks of bare earth, and a public road running right alongside the work. A Cornish hedge is an earth bank faced in stone, and it only lasts when it is rebuilt the traditional way.
Storm Goretti Recovery at Chymorvah, St Ives
Watch the Storm Goretti recovery What We Built: 50 Metres of Dry Stone Cornish Hedge in Three Weeks
The full run was rebuilt over three weeks in July 2026, with the site fenced and signed along the roadside for the length of the job.
The damaged run was rebuilt as dry stone facing on the earth bank, so the repair reads as one boundary with the hedge either side rather than a patch.
The hedge runs up to the dressed granite piers at the entrance, with the stone worked tight to each pier so the boundary closes properly at the gateway.
The telehandler moved and placed the heavy material along the run from inside the fenced site, with a mixer set up alongside it.
Every stone in the face was set by hand and coursed to the hedge either side, so the machine did the lifting and the craft went into the face.
The Constraints We Solved on a Storm Damaged Roadside
A public road alongside the workThe hedge fronts the road, so the site was fenced and signed for the whole job, with the telehandler working inside it.
Storm damage never leaves a clean edgeWhere a tree comes out of a bank the damage runs past the hole it leaves, so the rebuild was tied back into sound hedge each side.
Three weeks, start to finish50 metres of traditional hedging in three weeks, by one contractor from setting up the site to the last stone in the face.
One Contractor, Start to Finish
Watch the rebuild The Services This Project Demonstrates
Rebuilding a Cornish hedge is hard landscaping done the traditional way, and holding a bank of earth up beside a road is retaining walls work. If a storm has brought down a wall or a hedge on your property, this is the job we would quote you for.
More recent projects
45 Metres of Reinforced Concrete Retaining Wall, St Ives
A 45 metre reinforced concrete retaining wall in St Ives: 250mm walls, two layers of mesh, a stepped two metre foundation and handmade timber shutters.
Read the projectMarine Grade Concrete Works on Jubilee Pool, Penzance
Concrete works on Jubilee Pool, the Grade II listed art deco lido in Penzance: marine grade concrete, rapid set concrete and low tide working windows.
Read the projectCliffside Structural Restoration on 65 Piles in Cornwall
A cliffside structural restoration in Cornwall founded on 65 piles: ground beams, columns, a soffit slab with integrated drainage and cantilevered steps.
Read the projectTalk to Us About a Storm Damaged Wall or Cornish Hedge
If a storm has brought down a wall, a hedge or a bank on your property, send us a few photos and the postcode, and Matt will come and look at it before anything is priced.
Call Matt Richards on 07958 102538 · Get a free quote online
14 The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance, TR18 5HN
Phone: 07958 102538
Email: info@cornwallcivilsandconstruction.co.uk
Hours: Mon to Fri 07:00 to 17:00 · Sat 08:00 to 12:00
Sunday: emergency call out only
Last updated: 8 October 2026