Yeovil's Virtual Museum

Banker Marks (Mason's Marks)

in St John's church

 

Banker marks, or masons' marks provided evidence for the work produced by the highly-skilled craftsmen who constructed the magnificent stone churches of the past and who cut the stone into the regularly squared blocks or carved more complex sections of mouldings, capitals, bases and such like.

These craftsmen were invariably paid more than the masons who built with the stone. They underwent lengthy training before they were able to achieve the accuracy required. Today, a mason would need to train full-time for two to three years to be proficient, and for about six years to be able to do more intricate work. The medieval mason would have been familiar with templates for cutting complex shapes and with using books of drawings in order to carve animals, plants and birds, whether real or imaginary.

There were two ways by which medieval masons were paid; firstly, the plain work, such as the walling stone, may have been costed by measure and the masons simply received regular wages. Secondly, as here at Yeovil, the stone masons were paid by the piece – the more they carved, the more they got paid. So, in order to make sure they they got paid for the correct number of stones worked on, each mason signed their piece with their individual mark.

Banker marks were usually drawn free-hand, and the marks were made with a chisel or a punch and a point is sometimes used to drill the ends of the lines. Although it was important that marks of one mason were not confused with the marks of others, it is clear that they did not spend a long time cutting elaborate or intricate marks.

A 2010 survey of St John's church, discovered a total of 466 banker marks with seventeen individual designs. Analysis of the banker marks has shown that at least two teams of masons worked on the church fabric, one team worked on the north side of the building while the other team operated on the south side.
 

 

The faint mark shown at left, an inverted “V”, is a banker mark located in the stairwell of St John’s crypt.

Below, are two banker marks or mason’s marks from the south arcade and both facing the south aisle.

The mark to the left is on the third pier from the west and that to the right is on the fourth pier from the west, indicating that the same mason was responsible for both piers.

 

These photographs feature in my book 'The Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil - a History and Guide'.

 

The banker mark (circled red) on the third pier from the west of the south arcade (the left photograph above) and facing the south aisle.

 

An illustration of a medieval stonemason at work.