Fine Stone Miniatures : The Cathedral Builders (6)

Martin and Oliver Webb Fine Stone Miniatures. Museum quality handmade miniatures of stone carvings for the collector and connoisseur.
	The Cathedral Builders A stonemason's photograph album Page 6 of 8

This time we're off to Great Malvern Priory. This is a pinnacle carved in Bathstone by Martin for the parapet on the north west corner of the clerestory.
And here is Martin fixing same. On days like this, with the sun high in a blue sky, there aren't many jobs that can compare. I think that the rusty scaffolding and absence of boards might not impress many health and safety officials nowadays!
	The photograph to the left shows a very youthful Martin Lewis (lately the head stone mason at Hereford Cathedral) during his time working at Malvern Priory in the 1970s (those trousers sort of give the game away, really, don't they!), and Henry Awford. Henry was a great man - he worked as a stone mason for his whole working life (with a few years off to fight off a certain Mr Hitler and friends) and both Martin and Oliver owe him a huge debt of gratitude for the skills he passed on. As a matter of minor interest, they are sitting on the grave of one Edward Webb (my great, great grandfather) who is buried at Great Malvern Priory. Henry headed the restoration work at the Priory for many, many years.
	This is some years later, back at Malvern Priory again. This time the pinnacle is on the north porch and a crane has been enlisted to help. Martin is on the left, Richard Sumner on the right.
Almost at the point of touchdown. This type of operation requires a very skilful crane driver with a good line of communication between him and the fixers. A few inches of swift movement in an unexpected direction can be very, very expensive (both in terms of damaged stonework and damaged stone masons).
Another "crane" shot; this time removing the old weathered parts of the parapet on Malvern Priory. The stone masons are Eric Kay (on left) and Martin.
The pictures above and to the right show details of the 45ft tall Seven Dials Sundial column in London. The present Portland stone column was erected to replace the original which was destroyed in 1773. My cousin, the letter cutter Caroline Webb was responsible for the carving, painting and guilding of the magnificent sundial, shown here during and after fixing. The sundial has six faces and it is thought that the seventh "dial" was around the column with the column itself acting as the gnomon. Such a complex sundial as this demands extreme accuracy of workmanship by the stone mason, since any error in surface or line directly affects the performance of the sundial. It is often said that the sun is the most critical architect ever, since inaccuracies, sometimes almost invisible to the casual appraisal, cannot hope to hide from oblique sunlight and the shadows cast by it! The picture above illustrates well the use of Lewis Pins to lift a large, heavy stone, all of whose faces must be protected from lifting slings. Lewis Pins are a lifting device consisting of two cranked pins attached to a steel ring. The pins are inserted into a hole cut in the top bed of the stone and a hoist can then be used to lift the block without ropes or slings which have to be removed from underneath the block. Photos used courtessy of Caroline Webb.
	This rather ancient looking photo is of St. Mary's, Ross on Wye. It was actually only taken in the early 1980s when Oliver was working with the team of masons who replaced the three missing pinnacles at the base of the spire and restored the tower. We were there through a devilishly cold winter with the wind cutting like a knife.
	Whilst we were there steeple jacks put ladders up both the outside and the inside of the spire. This roaring abyss is the view looking up inside. I actually went right to the top of the ladder, though sadly without my camera. At the very top, the ladder terminated in a black cobwebby cone and it was possible to stand on the top rung and wedge one's shoulders into the tight gap. The acoustics up there were quite odd, and the view vertically down onto the bells did something a little odd to the stomach. It wasn't an experience I'd particularly want to undertake on a daily basis, however, so I'll leave the photo looking down for others to take!
This is something much calmer and far more sensible! A panel, carved by Martin for fun. It got left behind in a house move since it was built into a wall.