Selected work · 1968 to now
Four hundred and twelve buildings
Two hundred and fourteen of them listed. These are the six we are asked about most, and in each case the interesting part is what we left alone.
The Corn Exchange · 2019 to 2023
As found, and as built
The same measured elevation, drawn twice. Drag the handle: the drawing does not move, so what changes is the fabric and nothing else.
As found, 2019As built, 2023
What was wrong
Cement repointing across the whole facade, put on in 1974 and by 2019 shedding the face off every stone it touched. The balustrade had gone in the 1960s, bar two stumps.
What we did
Raked out and repointed in hot-mixed lime, cut and set 214 stones, recut the cornice drip in situ, and carved 30 new balusters to the pattern of the two that survived.
What we left
Every stone still doing its job, however weathered. The east return is untouched and looks it, because a building that is uniformly new has been replaced rather than repaired.
Sheet 12 · the record
Every job, drawn and archived
The Corn ExchangeRepointing, 214 stones, new balustrade
St Wilfrid, phasedFour phases over six years
Cornice, 1:5Drip recut in situ
The banker shopWhere all of it is cutBrunswick PlaceNo. 14 rebuilt from the cill band up
The yard200 tonnes, seasoned under coverSt Wilfrid · 2018 to 2024
Six years, four phases, one open building
A parish cannot close for six years and cannot borrow against a grant it has not been given, so the work was divided into four phases that each stand alone and each leave the building weathertight. Phase three waited two years for funding. Nothing deteriorated while it waited, because the phase before it had been drawn to allow for exactly that.
Who we work for
Churches and cathedrals
Quinquennial work, phased against funding, with an architect and usually a grant body in the room.
Civic buildings
Town halls, exchanges, libraries. Usually listed, usually occupied throughout, always a procurement process.
Private houses
Terraces, farmhouses, a windmill. Smaller, and the work where we most often talk somebody out of something.
Other masons
We cut stone to other firms drawings when their yard is full, and they do the same for us. It is a small trade.
The archive is open.
Every drawing, every schedule and every photograph from fifty-seven years of work is in the plan chest at the yard. If we have worked on your building, it is in there, and you are entitled to a copy.
Metro Stonewright
Stonemasons and lime specialists. Founded 1968. Six banker masons, two carvers, one yard, and no subcontracted stone.
METRO STONEWRIGHT LTD · THE YARD, BRUNSWICK PLACE · ALL WORK TO BS 7913 AND THE SPAB APPROACH