Saturday 15 December 2012

Cobbler's shoes


I don't think I have shown you this picture of the former stone-mason's emporium at Salisbury before, but I am sure Elegance is very familiar with it.

A friend of mine used to rent a flat in one of the Bath Crescents, which used to belong to a decorative plaster worker. Inside, it was like living in the middle of an inside-out wedding cake. Every square inch of wall and ceiling was plastered (literally) with roses, leaves, vines, egg and dart, faces, angels, etc. etc.

Personally, when I go home I try to leave my work behind me and settle down to a relaxing weekend with food and drink (or as relaxing as it can be when it is all cooked by me), and I do not trouble myself with whittling away at a bit of stone or marble unless I absolutely have to.

I heard of a young, apprentice wood-worker who - when at home at the end of his first week in the trade - occupied himself by taking every door in his parent's house off, only to re-hang them immediately after. Because he could.

Some years ago, a young stone carver who was new to the skill, pissed everyone off by bringing little bits of carving into the pub and wandering around, proudly showing them off to all and sundry. There was at least one 'Green Man' carving amongst them in the beginning. What is it about Green Men that so excites novices to stone?

At least the above shop was an advertisement. Now it is a restaurant.

'Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair...'

12 comments:

  1. A fine advertisement it is too. Is the restaurant any good?

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    1. It sells the most expensive steak in the world, outside Japan, and I didn't buy one. The rest of it is pretty mediocre.

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    2. That would be Wagyu beef then . Massaged and cosseted cows that are fed beer and sake in their feed so that they produce highly marbled and delicious steak..... if you win the lottery this week Tom, it's worth having some. XXXX

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    3. If I could, I would, but farmers here get a strain which has some of the Wagyu in it, then leave out the sake, beer and massaging, so the creatures grow up like any other cattle. I can't see a British farmer getting up in the morning, taking a bath with his herd and feeding them the stuff which he would prefer to drink himself in the local that evening, somehow.

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  2. Haha! Yes, Tom, I do know this building very well as it is only round the corner from Elegance Maison (geddit).

    It was part of the Kings Arms pub/hotel for years but has changed names and owners several times over the last 10 years or so. Currently it's sadly called The Lazy Cow steak house with shockingly awful signage - especially opposite the cathedral close. I despair of Salisbury planners.

    I wonder if Osmond the stonemason originally set up his business after working on the cathedral. Perhaps he was inspired to name his business after Bishop Osmund (Norman spelling) who oversaw the creating of the new cathedral.

    A few years ago I sold some vintage curtains to a sweet young woman who told me that she was trying to make the best of her tiny rented house in the Close. She had just moved there with her husband who was newly employed as a stonemason for the Cathedral. Having come to Wiltshire so recently from London myself, I was immediately transported to Thomas Hardy's stories and Jude the Obscure. Not having really given much thought much about the ancient craft of stonemasonry before I felt quite emotionally moved by this link with the past.

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    1. Interesting about Osmund. Yes, I feel pretty obscure myself sometimes, especially when choosing curtains. Salisbury Yard is one of the oldest still going unbroken in the country. There has been masons on that site for almost a thousand years. Shame they have been taken over by businessmen, like everything else.

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    2. Is the Pennyfarthing Street name truly to do with the masons strike do you know? My brother attended Bishop Wordworth's school in the Close (though after William Golding's time)and was taught about it as fact.

      When I first moved here in 1999 the almost nearest local pub (now defunct) was The Masons's Arms. Oh how I wanted to fall into them. But it was not to be as Mr EM returned from abroad all too soon.

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    3. I don't know anything about that - sorry. When I saw William Golding's house in the close, I came to understand how he wrote 'The Spire' - difficult to ignore it, eh? Does Mr EM know how close you came to a bit of rough?

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  3. Somewhat ashamed that I seem to be the only one who had to google 'green man'. Feeling much smarter now.

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    1. Maybe the obsession with Green Men is a yearning for paganism past - stonemasons are renowned pagans.

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  4. what amuses me is the greenery in the gutter. It's going to be a tad damp inside..

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    1. Oh yes - I hadn't noticed it properly. Probably a result of a few generations of pigeon activity.

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