how A craftsman claims his work
The tradition of marks
The craftsman’s mark has been used for centuries across different trades by individual craftsmen to denote key information, usually including who made the particular item.
Whether it was a stonemason’s mark showing who worked a finished stone and where it went within the intended structure; or a set of hallmarks on a wedding ring confirming the metal’s quality; or a potter’s mark showing which pottery it was made in, a craftsman’s mark was more than just a symbol.
Such marks are also notable for their durability. For example carpenters’ marks on floor joists, found during an archaeological excavation under Chatham Historic Dockyard, showed that 167 timbers from a warship had been recycled as floor joists and researchers were able to confirm that the same carpenters who had worked on those joists had also worked on Admiral Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory.
The craftsman’s mark has always represented more than just a decoration or a symbol and still does to this day.
A mason's mark, a potter's mark, a carpenter's marks and jeweller's hallmarks
still going strong
The craftsman's mark
Who has not heard of words and phrases such as: ‘hallmark’, ‘trademark’, ‘on your marks’, ‘hit your mark’, ‘mark my words’ and ‘make your mark in life’? The craftsman’s mark and its various purposes has found it's place in our everyday language in such phrases and is still being properly used within various industries, in many different ways, to confirm attributes such as the quality of particular goods. Be it a piece of pottery or jewellery or some other item of individual workmanship.
Over the last several centuries most of the trades or skills such as carpentry, pottery, jewellery making, metalworking, stonemasonry and others had Guilds or Trade Associations to govern those employed within the trade. The Guilds and Trade Associations ensured that skills were retained and that the practitioners of their respective crafts were appropriately qualified and skilled in order to be authorised to carry out their work.
In many of those traditional crafts words such as Apprentice, Journeyman or Fellow of the Craft and Master were common and described the level of skill that each practitioner of a particular craft had achieved.
The local or regional Guild or Trade Halls were where members of a craft met to discuss and manage their craft. Stonemasons and the history of the master builders, from before medieval times, are part of the history of Freemasonry in Britain.
In medieval times, unlike many such as blacksmiths and bakers, a stonemason most likely had to travel from work-site to work-site as a building was completed and would therefore arrive at a cathedral or an abbey asking for work. Their first port of call would have been the Mason’s Lodge.
The stonemason might or might not have his own tools, if times had been hard he may even have been forced to sell them. He could still prove his identity by knocking in a prescribed way, answering a ritual set of questions and presenting his mark to be checked against the Guild Register. The site’s Master Mason might then set him on plain ‘walling’ with a few simple mouldings to test his mettle - checking each piece he cut. If it was approved the Mason might gain then advancement to more complicated work.
Masons’ marks have been found all over Britain, in all the key medieval bastions of stone, at first glance they may appear to be simply little geometric doodles but in reality they represent a real person's identity. They would have been very important to the itinerant craftsman, it was their signature and their way of confirming this was work completed by their hand.
The mark of the individual skilled craftsman was a tally of their work, by which they were paid. It was also in most cases unique to them and was a way for their audience to recognise and track the quality of the work. This is still true through to the current day, even though the individual's names are generally lost in time.
This is absolutely not peculiar to stonemasonry – think of words still in common language today. For example, if you are wearing a wedding ring or piece of jewellery it is likely to have hallmarks - marks issued by the Assay Office. You might also be lucky enough to own a piece of rare designer pottery or glass, which if marked appropriately may be worth a pound or two. The use of a craftsman's mark is still relevant and important today - across many crafts.