The main objective of the research project described in this paper is to quantify the response of woven geotextile encased stone columns subjected to lateral loads. This objective is achieved using a set of large direct shear tests in which stone columns of two different diameters (50 mm and 100 mm) and two different configurations (triangular and square) were tested. It is observed that the presence of ordinary stone column increases the shear resistance. Similar trend is also observed in the case of encased stone columns. In the case of encased stone column larger increase in post peak shear resistance was observed with larger displacement due to the effect of geotextile reinforcement. In case of ordinary stone column post peak shear resistance remained constant due to failure of stone columns. In encased columns, the geotextile reinforcement prevents the shear failure of stone columns and helps to mobilize much larger shear resistances. With the increase in area replacement ratios, the shear resistance increases in both ordinary and encased stone columns.