Andrew Kirby and Carol Merryman, two stonemasons at Salisbury Cathedral, were admitted into The Worshipful Company of Masons as Yeoman Masons during a special Evensong to honour and celebrate the skills and dedication of all the stonemasons, conservators, glaziers and their fellow artisans in the Cathedral’s Works Department.

Salisbury Cathedral employs 9 stonemasons, 2 sawyers, 2 conservators, 4 glaziers, a plumber and a carpenter. The team is based on site and they all work on the Cathedral’s Major Repair Programme restoring and preserving this built heritage for the future.

Claire House Norman, Development Director, said “We held a special reception before the service and the whole event was a wonderfully happy occasion for everyone present – the stonemasons, their supporters and families. It was a real pleasure to welcome the Master of the Worshipful Company of Masons, Mr Derek Sayer, who was joined by several previous Masters as well as Trustees of their charitable trust.

Chris Sampson, Acting Clerk of Works, said “Andrew and Carol are both qualified and experts in Cathedral stonemasonry and it is a great honour for them to have been admitted as Yeoman Masons. We are also particularly delighted that the Worshipful Company of Masons have pledged further support for a new apprentice stone mason at Salisbury Cathedral who will be recruited soon.”

Salisbury Cathedral’s Major Repair Programme is funded by kind and generous individual donors and grant-making Trusts. The Cathedral is one of only eight Cathedrals in England with its own Works Department. It has trained apprentice masons and glaziers for generations.