Stone walls are one of the first things I notice in photographs of the English countryside. Whether they climb a windswept hillside, border a quiet footpath, or disappear into ancient woodland, they seem to belong exactly where they are. They have become one of the defining features of rural England, giving the landscape a character that is difficult to imagine without them. Whenever I picture England, a stone wall is almost always part of the scene. Take them away, and something important disappears with them. The rolling hills would still be there. The sheep would still graze in the fields. The villages would still be beautiful. Yet the countryside would somehow feel less English. That may sound like a bold statement about something as ordinary as a stone wall, but I have felt that way for years. Whenever I come across photographs of England, my eyes are almost always drawn to those weathered lines of stone winding across the landscape. They are one of the details that make Eng...