(William Morris Craft Fellow 1994)
I took part in the “William Morris Craft fellowship” in 1994 with another Stonemason “Harvey Layzell” and a Carpenter/Joiner “Andy Johnson”, travelling the length and breadth of the country looking at old buildings, techniques to repair them and the varied amount of craftsmen and women who’s work involve conserving them from day to day.
The experience of gleaning this huge amount of information from all corners of the UK was second to none and I can’t speak highly enough of this programme.
I’m sure all past William Morris Craft Fellows will agree it takes several years after taking part to fully digest all the information gained!
Since completing the WCMF, I took over a new role within Historic Scotland as Chargehand Mason, then Foreman at Elgin Cathedral. Work involved the repair and Maintenance to various sites in the north of Scotland – first and foremost being the Cathedral itself.
I was also involved at this time in additional “In-House” training for our own apprentices across Scotland to enable them to take on more intricate carving and conservation work.
Fairly soon after, Aberdeen College closed its doors to stonemasonry due to the downturn primarily in the granite industry. We were then forced to send our apprentices from the North, down to Edinburgh or Glasgow College at a considerable expense as they had to stay in Lodgings.
It was then that it was decided to look into training our own apprentices as a formal College, and so Elgin Stonemasonry Training Facility was born.
“Ovolo moulding” on Clashach Sandstone. Building window opening in natural stone
The need for stonemasonry in the north of Scotland.
At present there are around 350 registered stonemasons in Scotland – a number that is falling every year due to masons retiring from the trade. There are probably twice as much more who profess to be properly qualified, but do not have the technical expertise or been given the proper training in order to produce a high standard of work. Although worrying there is a healthy training programme in operation, bringing in another 50-60 qualified masons every four years Between Elgin, Glasgow & Edinburgh. This is where “we” as Stonemasonry trainers come in, and in my instance trying to bring back stonemasonry to the Northern reaches of Scotland.
Hewing shed at Elgin Training Facility
Due to the distances involved to other colleges in Scotland – 165 Miles to Edinburgh and 185 miles to Glasgow, in early 2000, we set up a stonemasonry training school at Elgin Cathedral as mentioned earlier; our remit was to primarily run various “Scottish vocational courses” for Apprentice masons. I took over a new role as the Training Manager for these courses, which are accredited by the Scottish Qualification authority and by the Construction Industry Training Board.
We run SVQ Level 2 & 3 up to HNC, Advanced craft Stonemasonry, for “In-House” and for apprentices from local contactors.
Exchange programme with the USA
Myself with two “Quinque Fellows” –
Jerry Le Blanc centre & David Gallagher on the right.
Historic Scotland has also taken a central role in facilitating the “Quinque Fellowship” which is run in conjunction with our counterparts in the USA, an exchange programme which has seen a number of students spend time at our training facility learning how to carve stone in various forms. I was fortunate myself in taking part in the programme in the summer of 2004 – I spent over 8 weeks in the states, travelling from Boston, through Washington and New York and Virginia down to Georgia and Florida looking at various conservation work, including “ Hands-on” work at “The White House” with the National parks service. I also spent a large proportion of my time working with Jimmy Price from the “Virginia Lime Works” on various jobs ranging from Jefferson’s Popular Forest retreat, to Madison’s Montpellier – work involved mainly traditional lime plastering and lime washing. In Florida I spent some time in St Augustine, doing some repair work at the “Castillo De San Marcos” Fort. (Working with “Coral Stone” – Coquina)
Photo of “Castillo De San Marcos” - Florida Plastering at “Popular Forest” with VLM
Plans for the Future
We hope to expand the training facility over the coming years to include the delivery of newly accredited conservation units firstly to our own apprentices and masons and then to outside contractors who work on our sites throughout Scotland. We will then fully utilise our Ruinette structure which we have used for teaching purposes in the past – (similar to the one formally at Fort Brockhurst and now at West Dean)
I’m also involved with the building limes forum group and take great interest in the work that they do in attending the various lime gatherings each year – Bergen in Norway is the location this time round! When I first saw the burning and slaking of lime at Stafford Homes House while on the WMCF back in 1994, I knew then I was hooked!
Final Word
We’ve just moved into an old stone house recently so I’m busy carving a new fireplace at the moment to contain various Celtic Knot, Family crest and moulded work, so plenty to keep me busy, along with our Two Children – Shannon who’s six and Tyler just turned three!.
I Very much enjoy what I’m doing at the moment, and relish the challenges ahead as we take a more serious view on training and its benefits, both for the buildings we work on, and for the tradesmen and women doing the work.
I would finally like to congratulate my fellow Trustees for all there efforts in the fundraising to try and keep the WMCF going as I feel the experience has certainly proved to be a large part in motivating me up in Scotland and now World over!, to try and make a difference. Long may the programme continue.
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