The art of restoration

Lincoln Cathedral stonemason Rachael Wragg hopes that documenting her work on social media will encourage others to follow her craft. Interview by Kate Chapman.

As workplaces go, few are more impressive than Lincoln Cathedral — and for stonemason Rachael Wragg, it’s a view she gets to marvel at every day.

Rachael, who grew up in Grimsby, completed a three-year apprenticeship at the city landmark after deciding to retrain and has now worked there eight years, as she continues to hone her craft.

“You never get bored of it, clambering up the scaffolding, it’s so awe-inspiring – you’re never thinking, ‘oh, this again!’” says Rachael, who also has a degree in fine art from Leeds University.

“For every project I’m involved in, I’m working on a different part of the building and there’s always something interesting that I’ve never seen before. It keeps it exciting.

“There’s an enormous sense of pride working here. As you approach the city, you can see the cathedral, all the way up on top of the hill and it’s lovely to think I’ve helped restore parts of it.”

Building work on Lincoln Cathedral started in 1072. It is the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln and the mother church of the diocese of Lincoln. Due to the medieval fabric of the cathedral – it is Grade I listed – it requires constant attention.

Rachael is one of six stonemasons following a 100-year programme of works, which involves going around the building every century making the necessary restorations.

Her team has recently started phase two of a project on the historic Chapter House.

‘Lincoln Cathedral is the only cathedral in the country which is on the at-risk register in its entirety,” Rachael explains.

“It has a lot of medieval stone, a very large percentage, and unfortunately the Victorians did a lot of interventions.

“They’ve added a lot of materials that shouldn’t have been added, like iron works, which in the long term have caused a huge amount of cracking and damage.

“They thought they were doing the best for the building, but what they have ended up doing is causing more damage.”

Hand-crafted repairs
The cathedral uniquely had its own quarry a mile away, as the city of Lincoln is built on a bedrock of limestone. The current Chapter House works involve the stonemasons spending three months making templates for the stones they’re replacing. During the winter it will take them five months to carve the stones indoors, by hand, and then a further six months, in the summer, fixing the stones into place.

Rachael says this project is the team’s main focus, although they will react to other issues should they arise, such as repairing any storm damage. She works solely for Lincoln Cathedral but also undertakes works on the other buildings governed by the Dean and Chapter including the Chancery, Deanery and Exchequer gates.

“Each job has its own highlights. When I was working on the east transept restoration I was able to carve the finial point and put it in place – now I look up from the cloisters and think, ‘I carved that!’

“For the first phase of the Chapter House, I rebuilt two of the pinnacles. We often replace stones one for one, but we had to rebuild a whole big section that spanned two floors – that was quite a fun part to do.”

All the carving Rachael does is completed by hand, using traditional hand tools.

She explains: “We use mallets and chisels – just like medieval masons. We don’t have any electric grinders and don’t use any robots. Medieval masons could come in here, pick up a template and carry on the job! I’m a big advocate for the preservation of heritage craft skills.

“There’s a place for CNC (computer numerical control), machines and robots within our historic buildings, but it should be just as important to preserve the skills it took to build them.”

Career choices
Rachael was 29 when she decided to retrain as a stonemason. After completing her A-levels she felt pressured to attend university as there were no opportunities for apprenticeships at the time.

“I picked a subject and off I went. I don’t think I got as much out of it as I should have. Then I stayed in Leeds, working in shops to pay my rent,” she says.

It wasn’t until moving back in with her parents that the opportunity she’d been waiting for came up. She applied for the apprenticeship at Lincoln Cathedral after one of her friends spotted an advert in a local newspaper.

“She said to me ‘this is absolutely up your street – making stuff, craft and history’. I’m a big medieval history enthusiast, she was right – it ticked all the boxes.”

“I was in a fortunate position, my husband was in a situation where he would be able to support me. So I applied, thinking I was too old, as I was already in my late 20s. I was absolutely astonished when I was given the chance to train here.”

Rachael admits she’d never picked up a chisel until her first day, but her background of working in craft workshops and studios stood her in good stead.

After her initial three years, Rachael was kept on and completed a second degree in stonemasonry through the University of Gloucestershire, while based at Lincoln.

Social media
Since then, Rachael’s built up an online following after sharing videos of her work on social media sites such as Instagram, where she has 91,000 followers, including many from Canada and America.

“It’s all happened quite by accident, but it’s lovely. More women are working in construction these days but tend to be more office based rather than on site.

“Looking back at my career options and thinking back to when I was first going to university, had we had social media, and I’d seen female masons, bricklayers, plasterers and electricians, it would have shown me that it was an option for me,” she says.

“Masonry is seen as a mythical type of craft, but I love being able to make people aware of how we work and encourage more people to consider retraining, especially women.

“It’s a great job, I love it.”

Lincoln Cathedral receives no government grants or funding for maintenance or the buildings’ upkeep. All money to carry out the works is raised by fundraisers – you can support their efforts online at www.lincolncathedral.com/fundraising/chapter-house-phase-two/

Follow Rachael online at instagram.com/thegingermason

Photographs: Copyright Rachael Wragg

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