It's an ancient craft that dates back to the Iron Age and has helped shape the spectacular look of the Cumbrian countryside over the centuries.

Now dry stone walls will be built by ex-prisoners and former servicemen as part of a £10m drive to prevent traditional skills dying out.

A new pot of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will be used to train up a fresh generation of workers in traditional crafts.

General members of the public will also be able to train as dry stone wallers and in other traditional skills which are under threat of being lost.

A sum of £183,800 has been set aside for eight training bursary places for young people throughout the UK, who will be launched on a career as professional dry stone wallers to help combat the acute shortage in this traditional craft.

Ruth Kirk, at Friends of the Lake District, said it was "terrific" news about the funding.

"Dry stone walls are such an iconic part of Cumbria's cultural identity and it is vital that this heritage skill continues to be passed down the generations," she said.

"It's always fascinating and very satisfying to see how a pile of stones at the start of the day can be so skilfully built into a beautiful structure which will last another generation and more."

Dry stone walls, built without any mortar or cement, are common across vast swathes of the Cumbrian countryside, particularly in the Lake District.

Their origins can be traced back three-and-a-half millennia, to the village of Skara Brae in the Orkneys, and the Iron Age brochs of northern and western Scotland.

The art has been kept in the public eye at country shows such as the Penrith Show, which can feature a dry stone walling competition.

"As well as being pleasing to the eye, dry stone walls are the most commonly used field boundaries in Cumbria and used by livestock farmers to keep their stock from wandering," said Ms Kirk.

The £10.1m funding, which is being shared between 18 projects across the UK, is the latest investment by the HLF, which has already put £47m into a Skills for the Future programme since it launched in 2009.

The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain said: "We will be particularly looking to offer ex-servicemen and ex-offenders, together with people from minority cultures from all over the UK the opportunity for full-time training with a professional dry stone waller, together with additional formal training to prepare them for a career in dry stone walling."

Sir Peter Luff, chairman of the HLF, said: "We know the Skills for the Future programme can drive successful and lasting change.

"It's simple yet highly effective: trainees paired with experts gain access to knowledge plus practical, paid, on-the-job experience."

The news comes as the Dry Stone Walling Association in the north west sees the completion of an 18-month training scheme, which led to five trainees secure their advanced level qualification in dry-stone walling.

* Friends of the Lake District's annual dry stone walling competition takes place at Mazon Wath, Little Asby, near Orton, on Saturday, May 20 from 9am to 4pm.

For more information and an entry form, contact: ruth-kirk@fld.org.uk.