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The Stonemason at Culzean
Andrew Bradley invited me along to his workshop
and yard behind Culzean's walled garden. As we talked, Andrew
continued to work on a project he has undertaken for South
Lanarkshire Council. He had just finished drawing out some lettering
on a fine piece of stone and was just starting to chisel out the
first letter.
 Andrew
has been working at Culzean since 1991 and is the only qualified
stonemason on the site. He manages a training scheme for apprentice
stonemasons. The apprenticeship takes four years to become qualified
and includes attendance at college as well as extensive practical
experience. The requirement of the apprenticeship is that as soon as
they are qualified, they must leave the National Trust for Scotland
and obtain employment elsewhere. The purpose is to conserve the
skill of stonemasonry and not to increase the number of National
Trust for Scotland employees. To date, six fully qualified
stonemasons are at work thanks to his efforts. One of these masons
is working in Engl and
and is currently in charge of restoration work being undertaken on
the House of Westminster. Two others are working for Historic
Scotland and the remaining three are privately employed.
A recent change has been made to the
apprenticeship scheme. To help meet the modern conservation
requirements for professionals with specialist knowledge combined
with a feel and understanding of the work required, Culzean is now
recruiting graduates onto the apprenticeship scheme. These
graduate-qualified apprentices undertake the same basic training but
with additional
 experience
including placements with researchers and architects as well as
craftsmen. At the end of their course, apprentices have an MSc in
Architectural Conservation in addition to the trade qualification as
a stonemason. Andrew was anxious to thank the 'John Mather Trust'
for its very generous support of the scheme by funding the salaries
of the apprentices. As one might expect, the costs incurred are
quite significant and include travel expenses, college fees, tools
and quality materials to work with. Help is always needed to meet
these costs.
There are 230 working stonemasons in Scotland
covering a wide range of experience and
expertise. There are relatively few stonemasons who have the breadth
of experience and very high standard of skills necessary for complex
restoration work. Quite a few of these stonemasons are employed by
Historic Scotland and undertake work only from them. The
stonemasonry department at Culzean undertakes projects for any part
of the National Trust for Scotland and any other organisation
including private clients. All their projects are costed at
commercial rates.
 Andrew’s current project, for South Lanarkshire
Council, is called “Cairns Planting” and is funded by Green Space.
Sets of words, involving association, rhyme and visual impact, all
linked to the outdoor environment, have been carefully selected by
local primary school children. The words are carved by Andrew onto
slabs of Caithness flagstone (a type of hard, dark sandstone) which
will be
laid along a country path in the South Lanarkshire region. By this
stage in our conversation, a beautiful capital S was taking shape.
Andrew told me that one of the finest examples of letter cutting in
stone was an inscription on the Trojan column in Rome. The art of
stone letter cutting can be a lifetime skill on its own. Calligraphy
with a pen is a very different art from letter cutting with a chisel
where the work is in three dimensions and the colour and texture and
workability of the stone must all be taken into consideration.
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