The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain

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It was as a schoolboy that Ziminski discovered a fascination for “the material aspects of the past, the tangible remnants”, digging on the North Downs. His father was taught to hew Scottish granite after the Second World War, and it was from him that his “gift of building materials, the understanding of which is the foundation of architecture” was inherited. Despite leaving school without any O levels, over three decades Ziminski has become one of the country’s foremost conservators.

The author's eagerness to experience the past physically sets him apart from drier academic historians . . . Ziminski's writing is vividly evocative and craftsmanlife . .it's a fascinating book and a wise one, Daily Mail The book is split into four parts, each focused on a material crucial to the stonemason’s weathered craft. Ziminski is reminiscent of Birkin in J. L. Carr’sA Month in the Country, as he traverses the land seeking monuments and souls of a bygone Britain. Whether aboard his canoeLaughing Waterin a bout of experiential archaeology to understand how such stone was originally transported, or rejoicing over days spent with Nutmeg (his trusty whippet, etched on the cover in Bath stone) leading spiritual peregrinations in search of sarsen at Avebury, Ziminski witnesses “mansion[s] of the dead”, Devil’s Dens, Georgian vaults, Saxonmynsters, apocalyptic scenes, fallen mullions, “Shakespearian-looking knights”, and rotting ribs. Ziminski records Thomas Browne’s observation that time “antiquates antiquities and hath an art to make dust of all things” – and, travelling through the West Country, the gap between ourselves and the world and workmen that produced its most famous monuments can feel unbridgeable. The 13th-century spire of Salisbury Cathedral seems distant enough, but compare it to the West Kennet Long Barrow, which has always been a strong contender for the title of England’s most important but unassuming monument. It was already an object of suspicious, even sinister, antiquity, and the better part of 4,000 years old, when the Romans came to Britain.

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Ziminski felt that books by historians and academics never quite got to the nub of what life was like for ordinary people, but there is little very ordinary about him. In his garden is a swimming pond he built himself, and one of the legs of his outdoor workshop houses a bottle of Pernod for dispensing post-winter-swim warming shots. It's out here that he does his thinking and experimenting. Andrew Ziminski, a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, is consultant to the Salisbury Diocesan Advisory Committee for the conservation of stonework and monuments.

Andrew has worked on many projects involving Sarsen stone and has developed a close understanding of how the Stonehenge Sarsens were dressed and moved from the Marlborough Downs. The recipients of the November 2022 round of grants include investigative researcher and author Hil Aked, poet Laura Theis and Greek poet and writer Constantine Alexander Blintzios. Their writing projects range from memoirs examining the ‘courage and transformation’ of life as a quadriplegic, to a poetry collection about our relationship with the environment and the climate crisis, with a focus on the importance of hope and wonder, to the story of Britain’s medieval churches told ‘through their forgotten features, furnishings, and monuments.’ For the past thirty years Andrew Ziminski has travelled as a journeyman stonemason throughout ancient Wessex in a way that would be understood by his medieval predecessors.

Book review: The Stonemason - A History of Building Britain by Andrew Ziminski

Ziminski records Thomas Browne’s observation that time “antiquates antiquities and hath an art to make dust of all things”– and, travelling through the West Country, the gap between ourselves and the world and workmen that produced its most famous monuments can feel unbridgeable. The 13th-century spire of Salisbury Cathedralseems distant enough, but compare it to the West Kennet Long Barrow, which has always been a strong contender for the title of England’s most important but unassuming monument. It was already an object of suspicious, even sinister, antiquity, and the better part of 4,000 years old, when the Romans came to Britain. Few buildings are built the old way, but Ziminski loves modern architecture. The only thing that bothers him is the amount of cement. "About 8 per cent of global CO2 emissions come from the concrete industry. But then how else are you going to build infrastructure and hospitals? I wonder about all that Frenchay Hospital discarded stone. If the way we build certainly helps us to understand past communities, what will history record of us? When Ziminski mends an old building he uses lime mortars. "Old buildings move, and lime recrystallises over the old stitching. It breathes, and that's what keeps the building up," says the 52-year-old. Illustrated by Clare Venables, the book will be published in autumn 2024. The publisher said: “Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, acting as an informal guide to curious visitors, whether they are attending a service or admiring the craftsmanship. Church Going is his guide to the churches of the British Isles, detailing their features, furnishings and fascinating histories – from flying buttresses to rood-screens, lychgates to chancels.” Andrew aims to develop further those threads of connection with the past and build on the success of The Stonemasonwith a second book provisionally entitled Church Going, where he will tell the story of Britain’s medieval churches through their forgotten features, funishings and monuments. From gurning gargoyles to the fading strokes of superstitious graffiti, Church Goingwill share a church craftsman’s very personal view and understanding of the odd assemblage of features and artworks that combine to make a parish church.

At times, the foundations of Ziminski’s historical anecdotes are a little shaky (I yearned for a stone–mason’s take on the link between Wells’s and Salisbury’s “angry owl” strainer arches), but such details are forgiven as he charms the reader in a gentle fireside read which “sprinkle[s] a good amount of culture into the head”. “Thirty years ago, strolling down the longest church nave in the country, awed, cowed and a little dishevelled … I felt like I finally belonged”. Absorbing and engaging,The Stonemasonperfectly captures thegenius lociof the British landscape and its ancient buildings. The Times Literary Supplement 4-4-20 A stonemason's story of the building of Britain: part archaeological history, part deeply personal insight into an ancient craft. This might be the annual standoff between the differing archdruidsat Stonehenge, gowned and straw boater-ed Rollo Maughfling and tin-crowned, sword-wielding Arthur Pendragon (ever ready to defend the henge from the maltreatment of “English Heretics”, as the sight’s modern custodians are known in Druidic circles); or, more personally, the torment of spending days strapped to the tower of St James’ Trowbridge, where “the aroma of the Ushers brewery merged with the aromatic delights of the adjacent Bowyers sausage and pork pie factory…”Ziminski, the stonemason of the title, describes the tall triple stone box of St Laurence at Bradford – one of the few Saxon churches surviving in more than fragments. He can also see it, not bare and chill as now, but as it was. “A golden cloth glistens with twisted threads, a beautiful covering for the sacred altar,” as Aldhelm (the seventh-century saint) wrote of such a church. “Here glistens the Cross of burnished gold adorned with silver and jewels.” To be the recipient of the Michael Meyer award feels particularly meaningful because it recognises the urgency with which Swings need support. Without doubt, as a consequence of the challenges presented during and after the pandemic, many productions would have closed prematurely if it were not for the Swings that stepped in to keep the curtain up. Removal of vegetation growth from the face of the walls, since root networks can spread into the stonework and cause damage from within. The longer these are left, the more damage they can cause, and the harder they are to remove. A life in Ruins – A Stonemason’s study of southern Britain’s ancient monuments, churches and bridges