Ancient Craftsmanship for a Modern Time

Biography of a London Master Stonemason

Using traditional skills and tool Stephen Critchley and his team hand carved works of art from solid stone and marble.

Entering his workshop you feel transported from the 21^st century back to a time when master masons were looked up to in society. On shelves around the benches lay mallets made from various woods and metals and chisels of many shapes and sizes with ancient names such as quirk, drove and pitcher. The bench used is called a banker derived from “banc” an archaic Anglo Norman word meaning bench, at the back of the workshop blocks of limestone and sandstone from across Britain and Europe stand with slabs of Italian, French and Greek marble. “ We use the best materials from across the world, the same marble MichelAngelo worked in, the same stone Henry Moore used, just the best available.”

Along with his team, all of which he has…

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City of London master stonemason

Biography of a London Master Stonemason

Written for an American Blog, to be part of a series on European Craftspeople

Stephen Critchley was born in the Royal Free Hospital, Islington, London in 1965 and in 1968 his family moved to St. Luke’s, an area on the border of The City of London. His family have been part of the City’s history since at least 1330 when Roger de Mortimer the son of his 29 times Great grandfather was hanged at Tyburn after being held in the Tower of London, on a happier note his 19 & 17 times great grandfathers Geoffrey Boleyn & Thomas Kytson were masters of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1454 & 1534 respectively with Geoffrey going on to be  Lord Mayor in 1457. His family have been freemen of many of the livery companies over the years, up to now when his father and uncle are…

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Grandads walk. Part 1 Kings Square to Smithfield

As I have said previously, around 40 years ago my Grandad would sometimes take me for a walk around the City of London on a Saturday morning. We would start in Finsbury and end sitting outside a pub near The  tower of London me having my favourite pineapple juice  (yuk but as a kid I loved it) and him having his one and only pint and a smoke of his pipe before getting a tube from The Monument back to Old Street. Although the London of 2013 is different from that of the 1970’s I am going to retrace one of our walks and hopefully see how little it has changed.

Part 1 route

I started as we always did leaving Kings Square in the Parish of St. Luke’s and the Borough of Islington, back then in the first 5 minutes we would pass 3 bomb sites many of these plots were not redeveloped until the 1980’s. The main difference I notice here is the lack of small shops having been replaced by offices.

A part from that the first part of the route is totally unchanged Goswell Road (the only Road in the City)  passing  Charterhouse on my right which started as a Carthusian priory in 1371 then turning right into Carthusian Street and there in front of me is Smithfield meat market, soon to be made into more offices I believe.

The market building is Victorian but the area as open fields has a history of markets, fairs but also executions of heretics and political opponents including William Wallace, Wat Tyler and many protectant religious reformers who were burnt at the stake.

Smithfield Meat Market

Walking though the Central Avenue I head towards Cloth Fair and St Bartholomew the great Church, the oldest  surviving church in the City of London dating from 1123 and the first on my journey that I would later come to work on as a Journeyman stonemason.

St Bartholomew the Great

I cut through the Grave yard through the gate and back out to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. The gate dates from the 13th century and is the only surviving part of the priory with the half timbered upper storey being 15th century, supposedly where Queen Mary sat and watched the protestant martyrs burn alive outside while drinking wine and eating chicken.

Gate back view from church

Gatehouse front view

 

Part 2 will be Smithfield to St. Paul’s

Related articles

• Save our Smithfield: who wants this historic marketplace to be flooded with shops and offices? (standard.co.uk)

Tower of London 1940’s/50’s

I believe this photo was taken in the late 1940’s early 1950’s by my granddad when he worked at the Tower of London.