Overview

Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason living and working in what was ancient Wessex. He has three decades of hands-on experience with the tangible history of this country, including raising stones at Stonehenge, the restoration of roman ruins in the City of Bath and work to save some of our most important medieval churches and cathedrals. But there's nothing dusty about this stonemason. THE STONEMASON begins with Andrew three hundred feet up Salisbury Cathedral, where he and his workmates are heaving new stone panels into place, taunted by the hoppy notes rising from the nearby brewery, and bombarded with debris by the nimbyish resident jackdaws. His work gives him a fascinating perspective on British history, nature and architecture. Offering a unique account of life as a craftsman and of working on some of this country's great monuments, THE STONEMASON is both a celebration of man's close relationship with stone, this greatest of natural materials, and a reminder of the value of 'made by hand' and 'made to last.'

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9781473663923

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Enthralling . . . Along with riveting personal insights into this ancient craft, he immerses us in the past lives of the long-forgotten everyday craftspeople whose legacy is the buildings we so treasure today * Bookseller * Like nurses, masons must know in detail about the lives of the buildings they care for. This intimate knowledge has given Andrew Ziminski unique insights into some of England's oldest and most beautiful structures. But this book is as much about people as mortar and stone. It's a conversation with the past, from which I learnt so much. My book of the year! * Francis Pryor, Time Team archaeologist and author of THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH LANDSCAPE *

Like nurses, masons must know in detail about the lives of the buildings they care for. This intimate knowledge has given Andrew Ziminski unique insights into some of England's oldest and most beautiful structures. But this book is as much about people as mortar and stone. It's a conversation with the past, from which I learnt so much. My book of the year! * Francis Pryor, Time Team archaeologist and author of THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH LANDSCAPE *

Author Information

Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason living and working in what was ancient Wessex. He has three decades of hands-on experience with the tangible history of this country and has worked on some of the greatest and most interesting monuments in Britain; from using his skills to create a Stonehenge megalith, to the restoration of Roman ruins in Bath, to working on the tower of Salisbury Cathedral and the dome of St Paul's in London. He is happiest, however, when working on a humble medieval country church. Andrew is a SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a consultant for the conservation of stonework and monuments to the Salisbury Diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches. He lives in Somerset. This is his first book.

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