Ireland's dry stone walls have been officially recognised by UNESCO in its List of Protected Cultural Heritage practices. 

The longest continuous length of dry stone wall in Ireland, known as the Mourne Wall, is located in County Down and snakes a path 35km long across the rugged countryside. It passes over 15 summits of the tallest mountains in the region, known as the Mourne Mountain range, including the majestic Slieve Donard – the highest peak in the north of Ireland at 850m. The impressive wall is constructed entirely from local granite and took eight years to complete, with construction beginning in 1904.

This is the fifth Irish cultural practice to achieve this status with Uilleann Piping officially inscribed in 2017, followed by Hurling in 2018, Irish Harping in 2019 and Irish Falconry in 2021. 

Ken Curran, trustee of The Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland wrote on the association's website: "The intangible cultural nature of how the knowledge has been retained, makes it vulnerable to loss without support for the active communities who are the bearers of the practice. The addition of Ireland to the UNESCO inscription is recognition of the many individuals and communities around Ireland still practicing dry stone construction and everyone involved in the safeguarding of the practice. 

"Having had Dry Stone Construction added to the list of countries on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity inscription is wonderful news for all of those communities."