Welcome to in2stone. The Domain Name www.stonemason.org.uk Has Been Replaced Because It Has.

 This site is currently under developed so is now under development.

In the meantime this is all there is.

A vision and aim to promote and educate in matters pertaining to stone.
This site will change frequently and infrequently.
Subscribe for site updates to stay site updated.
If you feel a need to contribute in any way please post a confidential comment.
My mind is broader than my head.
My head is broader than my shoulders.

~☺~

WHAT NEXT? books? college? .... um

# PLEASE TAKE NOTE #
 # NEGATIVE ADVICE WARNING #

The First LINK Below IS NOT THE BEST ADVICE

Have A Look anyway and see the National Careers Advice Service.Org.Government
at their pressumed best..
Please Do Not Let This Put You Off 
~~~

Job profiles

Stonemason

If you would like a practical job where you need a high level of attention to detail, you could be well suited to this work.

As a stonemason you would use your skills to carve blocks of stone, or lay and fit stonework into place on construction projects. To be good at this, you will need to be good with numbers and be able to follow architectural plans.
There aren't any set entry requirements to get into this job. However, many employers would expect you to have some experience on a construction site. There are college courses in stonemasonry you can do that could help you develop the skills you would need. You may be able to get into this job through an Apprenticeship scheme.

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/stonemason.aspx
~~~

MY 1st RESPONSE re:

• "If you would like a practical job where you need a high level of attention to detail, you could be well suited to this work"

This Advice Is True. However Stonemasonry is for anyone and everyone.

DO NOT BE PUT OFF BY ANY PERSONAL RESTRICTIONS

WE ARE AN EQUAL RIGHTS INDUSTRY

Attention to detail is developed to achieve the required standard.

• "As a stonemason you would use your skills to carve blocks of stone, or lay and fit stonework into place on construction projects. To be good at this, you will need to be good with numbers and be able to follow architectural plans" 

 This Advice is true. However to be good at this, you will LEARN how to work with numbers

and LEARN how to follow architectural plans" 

Skills, knowledge, techniques and qualifications ARE LEARNED

Personal goals ARE REALISED

• "There aren't any set entry requirements to get into this job. However, many employers would expect you to have some experience on a construction site"

This Advice May Be Misleading. There are no set entry requirements to LEARNING Stonemasonry.
Interest, curiosity and commitment may be enough
Most employers WILL NOT expect you to have Construction Site Experience.
Most employers OFFER THE OPPORTUNITY to gain Experience on Construction Sites.

• There are college courses in stonemasonry you can do that could help you develop the skills you would need. You may be able to get into this job through an Apprenticeship scheme.

TRUE.
HOWEVER..

I studied at Weymouth Stonemasonry College in Dorset gaining my NVQ 2 & 3 qualifications in Architectural Stonemasonry and College Diplomas in Architectural Stonecarving and Letter Cutting.
I studied at Weymouth College from 1995 to 1997
I Was Thirty Years Old. Tooo Old To Be An Apprentice I Feared
I took a two year full~time coarse with the specific aim of gaining my qualification papers to be able to continue my work in an industry which I entered aged nineteen and which was my Heaven.
My First Construction Job was in 1984 as a Bricklayers Friend/Labourer/M8
I worked for a few gangs on new~build, rebuild and maintenance projects.
I Was Hooked On Buildings, Builders and Building Sites from day one.
I learned sooo much in those few years working as a brickies M8
I learned how to mix mortar and how not to mix mortar, how to gauge batches and perfect timing.
How to make a free lunch by going to The Shop for supplies.
These are skills in themselves. Worth an extra two pound an hour for the Worthy. 
I learned how to lay bricks as a bonus. YO!
How to build walls and chimney stacks just from watching and trying. Brickies Love Sharing.
You'd be part of 'Their Gang'
Flat out New Build races with my M8s. Great Times.
Brickies Gangs are brilliant. Brickies M8s are crucial and undervalued and unrecognised as the skill or trade that they are.

I was  born and raised in Bristol, a HUGELY interesting City.
Every Architecture And Culture Available.
This is where my Heaven began.
In The L8r 1980s I lost a job with one roofing contractor after eleven months of LOYAL service, which included working SaturDay Mornings even when I played FooTBaLL on a Saturday Apres NooN.
LOYALTY
LOYALTY
Back then, as a self~employee, my Employer would be liable for my employee overheads after twelve months of continuous EmployeeShip
I was waived right to even the offer of an apprenticeship. My Destiny Lay ElseWhere

Within my Role as Brickies M8, working under the Guidance of Bricklayer, FooTBaLLer, Pianist and Very Good Friend Barry J. I worked on a project in Clifton, Bristol which involved the complete renewal of the internal walling system in concrete block and brickwork (Barry & I) and the Restoration of a Collapsed Bath Stone Bay Window. Alan & Co. This Aspect was Fascinating. so. on losing my Bricklaying TuToR Barry I sought out Mister Alan C. StoneMason on The Clifton Project. Times were different back then. Loads of work about. I lost a job one day and began a job on the following day as a StoneMasons M8.

I HAD ARRIVED AT MY NEXT STAR OF DESTINY

Between That Introduction Point with Alan C. and The Point that I decided to go to College I had experienced and learned Basic Banker Masonry (Flat Surface) to an UnApproved By The Regulation Board Standard, Stone Fixing, Pointing and RePointing, DryStone Walling, Mortared Walling, Plastering, Rendering, Properties and Benefits of Lime and OPC Mortars etcetera, Project Planning and Accomplishing, Absorbing Knowledge, Wisdom, Ideas, Beliefs... Like A ForEver Dry Sponge and more...
My Ultimate passion is to share to others the things that have been shared to me So Honourably.

The First Link Below is for Weymouth College in Dorset. I would always recommend Weymouth Stonemasonry College first for many reasons. One reason being that whilst there I experienced and achieved far beyond any perceived conceptions. I had been born into a new world when StoneMasonry College General Roy Pepperell greeted me with a huge smile, welcomed me by name and a warmth as though we were old friends. I do believe we were. Roy had MASSIVE, Hard Earned hands and arms. Fitter than. Roy Is My Master Mason. Our tutors then were Original PortLand StoneMasons, undoubtedly The Best In The World. Full to brim and beyond with knowledge, wisdom, the desire to yeild.
Roy Pepperell, Barry Rate, Walter O' (I wont attempt the full spelling) Andy Whittle and John Sellman (Alphabetically Listed) Richard Mortimer (Current General unless promoted) Alan Wolsey, Dave Good (A1 Technician "still there I hope Dave" :) Paul Louthe (A1 Technician Back Then and Stone Wizard Now) more may spring..

Great Friends Made ~ More Doors Opened ~ ALL GOOD TIMES.

The Other Colleges Will All Be The Same With Different Characters andPossibly A Vernacular Stone as the Primary Stone For BaSHiNG into nicely shaped fragments..
The TuToRs All Want To Teach You, To Let YOU Have A Go.

The Fundementals Of Banker Masonry Are The Same All Over The World And Have Been For ALLWays.
IT IS 100% LOGIC!
The Flat Surface is The Fundemental Of Banker Masonry and The Fundental As A Perfect Foundation
FOR EVERYTHING IN LIFE.
Try It. IT IS FUN @ Least!

http://www.weymouth.ac.uk/courses/results/?courseKeyword=stone

http://www.citybathcoll.ac.uk/part-time-love2learn/stonemasonry/stone-carving-introduction.html

http://www.thebcc.ac.uk/pages/courses/stonemasonry_courses/default.aspx

http://www.moulton.ac.uk/our-courses/further-education/stonemasonry/diploma-level-2-stonemasonry/moulton-2-year%28s%29-full-time-starts-8-september-2014

http://www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk/courses/construction-and-built-environment/stonemasonry-pda-level-6-svq-level-3

http://www.yorkcollege.ac.uk/courses/description.php?id=602

https://www.eastridingcollege.ac.uk/courses/stonemasonry-for-starters

http://www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/courses/course_description.aspx?id=CB1PASMF14&campus=Gra&keyword=&dept=bus

If you would just like to try before you commit or to learn StoneMasonry or StoneCarving For Fun, as a Hobby perhaps, just search for small workshops and project groups, arts or crafts courses near you. You may be surprised at what is available on your doorstep.

I have now gone typing blind.

MORE 2COME
SUBSCRIBE TO UPDATES FROM THE RIGHT SIDEBAR