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CLIMBING
CONSTRUCTIONS
Drystone masonry structures may
include features that enable them to
be climbed, these being popularly
called pujadors, botadors or saltadors.
They vary greatly by type and
size and are usually built into the
walls.
The simplest form is pieces of
stone, or less often pieces of wood,
laid so that one end is embedded in
the wall and the other sticks out
(escalons volats or projecting steps).
This type is the most common one in
closure walls that do not have openings
and in many terrace walls. Also
in exceptional cases these are found
in some wells and waterwheels for
cleaning and in huts for roof repair, or
in the case of gamekeeper huts for
climbing to the watching point.
Staircases and ramps are the most
evolved form of climbing constructions
and can be very complex and
quite large, both in terms of height
and of width. They may be frontal, that
is to say at right angles to the wall, or
lateral if built parallel to it. They can
also be either completely built into the
wall or just resting against it; there are
even staircases or ramps, which go
through a change of direction. The
staircase steps may be made of one
or more pieces of stone, while ramps
may have earth, cobbled or stepped
surfaces.
Staircases and ramps are mostly to
be found in terrace walls and are the
type of drystone masonry with the
greatest variety and complexity of
climbing constructions for enabling
access between the terraced fields.
There are also stone ramps in the
bases of waterwheels so that animals
can get up to the track running round
the waterwheel, and ramps and staircases
in the bases of some flour
windmills. Such structures are also to
be found in underground passage
springs when the mouth of the gallery
is below ground level, usually in the
form of a staircase, and watering
troughs or pools often have a cobbled
or stepped ramp to let animals get at
the water.