| The Craft of the
Stonemason
The craft of the stonemason is a as old as
the pyramids, perhaps older. Certainly many of the skills in use today
were being used by ancient Egyptians and the men who built Greece and Rome.
Selby Abbey has examples of the craft from the first building in 1100 AD.
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Masons have always marked their work and the
Abbey has some interesting examples of early masons' marks. This
example can be found in the stonework near the west door. Marks in
Selby Abbey consist of stars, triangles, crosses and letters.
Identical marks can be found in work at Durham and York which make it
possible to follow the trail of individual masons as they moved between
buildings.
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| In the 12th
Century, soil mechanics were understood but not as clearly as today. Selby Abbey is built on a high point of otherwise flat land. Even so, the
water-table is only three feet below the surface. Above the water-table are
about two feet of sand and a foot of topsoil. In
some sections stones or oak logs were placed three feet down on the wet sand
to form foundations. In other places un-mortared stone was used below the
water level. About a foot below the water-table is a layer of wet clay which
was deposited during the last Ice Age. It is impervious, and water cannot
drain through it. This impervious clay has caused the land around Selby to
flood on many occasions when the river system has been unable to cope with
an excess of water.
It was expected that the clay would be
squeezed by the weight of the growing building and the water forced out,
leaving a hard stable base. To the great credit of the 12th Century
builders, much of their work stands today. However where the clay was
too wet, it was instead forced out with the water and the result is the
subsidence evident in the arches supporting the tower in the nave.
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| Masons and carvers
are following nine centuries of tradition, renewing, and repairing the work
of their predecessors. However there remains considerable scope for
the exercise of individual skills and initiative. |
A head of a medieval peasant, carved complete
with an unhealed wound above the left eye and the scars of smallpox,
completes the base of Gothic arch as part of the latest restoration
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One of a pair of new stone medieval figures
carved to replace figures weathered beyond repair. |
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A newly carved figure in position with others on
the parapet. |
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New, imaginatively carved gargoyles replacing
those whose damage was beyond repair.
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