In article , in2minds
writes
rising or from above ?

I live in a terrace of 3 storey solid stone walled miners house
the ground floor is a cellar which opens onto the rear garden and is
below front door (street) level

back / \ front
|________|
|________|____
___|____|

the cellar is soaking 1/2 way along 1 adjoining wall and into the corner
of the rear facing wall

next door (as with all the houses in our street) has a yard area higher
than the cellar along this same wall but there doesn't appear to be
anywhere where the water can be seeping from other than their main drain
which is on the other side of their yard. about 6 feet away.
could this be the source of the damp or can rising damp (there are no
foundations or cavities) rise 7 feet up a wall ?

how can I find out where the damp is coming from (cheaply) ?

You could use a tracer like they use for tracing underground streams,
and sprinkle some on next door's yard.

This type of construction often has a stone drain at the foot of the
wall. There may be one under the edge of next door's yard, and one at
the foot of your cellar wall. They are formed by putting a line of
stones on edge about three or four inches in from the wall. The stone
flags on top then form a channel which usually leads to the outside.
Over time these channels become blocked with silt. Another favourite is
someone blocking the channel putting in new drains, or utilities
installing services and not knowing what all these bits of stone are
for.

You can often flush out stone drains with a high pressure hose, but you
have to find out where it comes out and work "uphill".

John
--
John Rouse