The Stonemasons' Guild of St. Stephen
Education
The Guild is a community of working stonemasons with international connections and membership. The origins of the Guild can be traced back to the first ‘Gild Moot’ called by King Athelstan in 936AD and much of the Guild structure, including some rules, are rooted, earlier still, in the Clodian Laws of 55BC.
As with any successful, historic organisation, The Guild has evolved over time, holding to some principles and practices and relinquishing others. We seek to build continually on our knowledge and understanding of innovations within the craft and of the diversity of craft techniques and culture globally. Although we embrace academic and technical advances within the craft, the ancient, skilled techniques, often employing hand tools, remain central to our teaching and practice. The traditionalism in our practice is not borne out of pretension, rigidity or slavish nostalgia but is the result of centuries of development of the finest methods which have never been bettered.
The Guild maintains its historic tripartite template, which ensures that our efforts are divided equally between craft, collegiate (academic) and frith (members’ welfare) objectives. The Guild provides teaching in traditional craft skills to a select few; from classical apprentices through to world-class craft Masters but also offers educational and outreach services to various organisations. We believe that the fundamental principles of craftsmanship have value for everybody, not just for those working in craft; we have shown that these principles can be taught to all who wish to improve their effectiveness and wellbeing.
With the privilege of Guild membership comes a responsibility to share the practical knowledge, culture and history of the craft of stonemasonry with a broadest possible audience; to improve public understanding and appreciation for the craft and for traditional crafts in general. The special role of Guild Remembrancer is always held by one elected Guild member who is entrusted with the task of holding, sharing and celebrating the cultural heritage of our Guild by word of mouth alone. Our unique history and culture is of great importance to us and is often of great interest to others.
Guild Apprenticeships
UNESCO recognises that failure to deliver the transmission of traditional craft skills to future generations is one of the biggest threats to world heritage. Through its apprenticeships, The Guild plays a fundamental role in guaranteeing that traditional stonemasonry skills are passed on to the next generation. The sustainable ongoing transmission of these valuable skills is also promoted by ensuring that a minimum number of Guild apprentices are trained to the level of Apprentice Master. Craftspeople trained to this level will be prepared to provide training to their own apprentices and equipped with the knowledge and experience required to act as custodians of the craft culture and heritage.
The support of a Master Stonemason is extended to Guild apprentices at any time throughout their lives and careers. Pursuit of lifelong learning is encouraged within the Guild system and apprenticeships are designed to offer a path to the highest level of accomplishment - within craft or academic practices - available to each individual. Guild craft apprenticeships are intended as a foundation for the elite craftspeople of the future.
“The Guild has brought me into contact with a diverse range of fascinating, creative people and offers unusual and exciting opportunities for work and travel. The environment encourages me to learn not through necessity or duty, but through inspiration, passion and curiosity. Already, my training has instilled in me a commitment to realising my own highest potential in my work. I feel a sense of connection with the past through the unbroken traditions the Guild upholds and a profound sense of purpose, belonging and community amongst my fellow Guild members.”
- F. Elston, BA,MSc., craft apprentice.
The Guild currently has a limited number of places for apprenticeships in Gloucestershire through its annual Spring intake. There is no formal application process and expressions of interest can be made through the Guild website. Suitable candidates are invited for an informal meeting, where they can discuss the requirements and practicalities of apprenticeship before progressing. The Guild recognises no personal factor e.g. gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, background or politics, which would have a bearing on a candidate’s suitability as an apprentice. The only personal factors precluding eligibility for a craft apprenticeship with The Guild are: a reasonable upper age limit - affording adequate time for the apprentice to learn and realise themself as a craftsperson, which takes many years - a lack of commitment to the challenges of apprenticeship or absence of the requisite nature and capacity to learn the craft and co-operate harmoniously with the Guild community.
Apprentices have in common a certain temperament - attentive and self-aware yet assertive and inquisitive - the capacity to hone their skills of dexterity and coordination, the ability to understand certain, foundational theoretical principles and above all, respect for the craft and the material with which they work. To become an all round craft Master within The Guild, a minimum of 30 years practice is required.
Guild Membership
The Guild has opened various levels of membership to a wider community of people who understand, appreciate and support our work. There is no fee or subsidy for membership and invitations are extended personally, at the discretion of The Guild to individuals whose work and lives exemplify the values that The Guild holds most highly. Invitation to membership is often, though not exclusively, extended to those working in stonemasonry and allied crafts. The stonemasons who have been invited to become Guild members work at all levels of the craft and industry but have in common a motivation to preserve the highest ideals of craftsmanship, protect the craft culture and heritage and to advance stonemasonry both technically and academically. Guild members may be invited to various ceremonial events in the Guild calendar, e.g. feast days, Common Halls (annual meetings), mystery plays or processions. Voting powers are granted to individuals at some levels of membership, affording them influence in the running of The Guild and a say in its future and progression.
The Guild welcomes craftspeople of every nationality into its community and will encourage all members to share with and learn from other craftspeople, especially in respect of international craft techniques and craft culture. The Guild will never seek to alter or influence any native or indigenous craft practices or culture but rather will seek to celebrate and preserve the diversity of individual and global craft techniques. The Guild strives to develop working affiliations with other crafts bodies such as The Compagnons, Journeymen and Société des Maçons and to protect, uphold and share the rich cultural heritage of the craft through maintaining records of regional traditions associated with the culture of Stonemasons (e.g. music, dance, poetry, oral folktales, literature and customs) and educating others about our regional and Guild-specific cultural traditions.
The Song
Amongst the Guild membership are the stewards of a vast resource of poetry, song, dance, story and even languages that spans 5,000 years of stonemasonry history from across all inhabited continents. This collective heritage is known colloquially as ‘The Song’. Through an unbroken lineage of craft Masters - known by name from 1080 - the richness of the craft culture has been remembered and is passed on to our younger members. The Guild is committed to forming connections with craftspeople of other nationalities and cultures to learn and teach in equal measure; indeed, the historic traditions of itinerant stonemasons makes for a diverse and complex culture within which it is nonetheless easy to find common ground with other stonemasons worldwide.
The Guild upholds the Centuries-old tradition of passing on much of the craft knowledge and history in the form of stories, poetry or songs - some from pre-Christian mythology and international folklore. The traditional stories typically exhibit integrity in their plot structures and characterisation and the language styles therein evidence their basis in a sophisticated narrative tradition, both oral and written, with ancestral construction from oral storytelling, and overlay from Anglo-French influences.
These tales take the form of allegories; either totally fictional, part factual or totally factual. The advantage we have over our predecessors is having more understanding about which is which. This traditional education runs alongside the contemporary teaching methods - which are necessary in a modern world - and gives life, colour and a deeper understanding of our craft, culture and history.
Research Projects
A primary objective of The Guild is to constitute a world-class centre of excellence in both craft
and academic disciplines. As well as seeking excellence in hand-skills and practical craft knowledge, it aims to become an unrivalled centre for scholarship and learning within the craft; amassing the best of world knowledge and building on it with the experience, research and discoveries of Guild members.
Several far-reaching and unique research projects are already being undertaken by individuals amongst the Guild membership including an extremely ambitious geological and material (specifically substances related to craft practice e.g. horse hair in mortar) sample collection, an exploration of the variety and composition of various traditional pigments used in polychromy and a study of the near-extinct, historic masons’ argots (informal languages), specifically with a view to recording and preserving the use of Bearlish.
“My involvement with the stonemasons of the Guild of St Stephen and St George has helped me immensely to advance my research into medieval sculpture. My work focuses on the impact of materials and working methods on the aesthetic, form, and language of the body in stone architecture, mainly of the Romanesque period. Learning about the practicalities of carving, the relationship between the carver and the material, and the attitudes of craftspeople towards their work is helping me to better understand the sculpture from a period that left us little evidence beside the artworks themselves. ”
-Dr. Agata Gomółka
Editor, Events Coordinator, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (CRSBI)
Doctoral Graduand, Associate Tutor, Department of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia.
The Guild has been approached by individuals seeking information for academic research, scholarly articles/exhibitions or background contextualisation for literature or programming involving stonemasonry or masons’ guilds. We are pleased to be contacted with such enquiries but request to be credited where any input is given.
The Liberal Arts
Within the classical Guild education, the core skills are taught through the ‘trivium’ which comprises: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The liberal arts are taught at apprentice and journeyman levels and are those subjects or skills that are considered essential for a free person (liberalis, "worthy of a free person") to know in order to take an active part in civic life.
These core liberal arts, along with arithmetic and geometry, the theory of music, and astronomy together comprise what is known as the ‘quadrivium’ in Guild education. In our Guild tradition, fencing, boxing and swing dancing classes are often taken alongside practical stonemasonry training; these activities employ similar postures, movements and muscle groups to stonemasonry and compliment the development of the required strength, flexibility, responsiveness and fluidity of movement. Swing dancing in particular encourages the practice of distorting and mixing rhythms and time signatures which is foundational for learning the principles and techniques of transposing rhythm into solid design at the highest level of stone carving training. At this elite level, principles of harmonic proportion and sacramental geometry are also taught.
Civil Arts Master
“One who dispels the darkness and takes one towards the light.” - Proverbial definition of a Civil Arts Master
Overseeing the education is a Board of Masters and at its head sits a Guild Master who is also a civil arts Master. The Guild Master works at the top level of their craft in technical and professional terms, but also teaches Guild members, up to the level of Master craftspeople, in the civil arts - the associated philosophical and theoretical subjects which pertain to personal development as an elite craftsperson, including:
- Wellbeing
- Mood creation
- Using energy
- Concentration and centring
- Philosophy of craft
- Psychology of craft
- Body geometry
The Stonemasons' Guild of St. Stephen Limited Registration number: 5069
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