Original stone finish (100)

This delightful little fellow is to be found in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, nestling discreetly beneath a drip moulding. He takes a bit of hunting out if you don't know exactly where to find him, yet probably hundreds of visitors sit only a few feet from him as they pause to enjoy the sight of the cathedral soaring towards the sky - they might not all spot him, but he sees every one of them!

He was carved, probably on the spur of the moment, by a stone mason as a little immortalising "signature"; a glorified "mason's mark". A mason's mark is more usually an incised monogram or simple linear design used to identify ownership of tools and the provenance of pieces of work. As such this carving's presence on the cathedral is very "unofficial", but such unplanned, personal little additions represent an ancient and honourable tradition within the trade, enriching the buildings upon which they are carved and giving us a tiny glimpse of the thousands of forgotten men who created our architectural heritage, using very simple technology and truly dazzling skill.

Interestingly the stone mason depicted here is left handed - an asset on site; being able to wield chisels into the awkward little corners a right handed mason would find difficult. The mallet and chisel he is shown using would have been the tools used when the cathedral was built, yet they would also be perfectly at home in a modern day stone mason's toolkit, since the same basic design, perfected many hundreds of years ago remains fundamentally unchanged even today. Only the materials used in the tool making have changed with traditional wooden mallets of cherry, apple or holly (to name but three) more often replaced with mallet heads made of polyester, whilst chisels are now tipped with durable tungsten. Having said that, the chisel this fellow is wielding is a "fair walloper" - definitely forged for action, somehow I don't think he's carving a delicate inscription on some intricate memorial!!

The presence of the little stone mason at Gloucester Cathedral has great significance today, since an ongoing programme of exquisite stone restoration work, headed by master stone mason Pascal Mychalysin, has produced many spectacular carvings to faithfully replace the badly weather-eroded originals.