Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

Extractive industries and building
Bidford and Cleeve Prior were blessed with lias and limestone quarries. 54
In the
1780s Nash mentions the different qualities of stone which occur in Cleeve Prior and
states ‘by means of the Avon large quantities are sent to distant parts, [which] affords
employment for many of the poor inhabitants.’ 55
If needed, special stone or building
materials and fuel for the lime-kilns could also be brought in by river from elsewhere. In
these two quarrying parishes the description ‘(stone-)masons’ covered a range of
workers, both masters and men, some of whom rented or owned quarries, dug the stone,
worked it and dressed it and supplied it to customers or carried out building work
themselves.
The probate inventory of Thomas Parr totalled only £11-16-6 including debts due
to him of £8 and his working tools worth six shillings. 56
Parr was apparently a bachelor
and maybe a young journeyman working for others. By contrast, members of the Squire
family were well established quarrymen-masons who also split the stone to make slates.
Their inventories show that they had a workshop, quarry and lime-kiln and were able to
cushion the effects of slack periods in the mason’s trade with mixed farming and
malting. 57
Another stonemason, (presumably a master), William Harward, owned
several messuages, a shop and a cider mill. 58
The likes of the Harward and Squire
54 See Appendix 18.
55 T. Nash, Collections for the History of Worcestershire, vol. I, (London, J. White, 1781), p. 236. He
elaborates: ‘Here are quarries of very good stone…. Some of it bears a very fine polish like Derbyshire
marble’, but the stone mainly used locally for walls is softer and flakes easily. The importance of quarries
to Cleeve Prior is highlighted in its enclosure award, (WoRO, b140, BA8/4).
56 WoRO, probate of Thomas Parr, Bidford, mason, 1699, £11-16-6.
57 WoRO, probate of Charles Squire, Cleeve Prior, slater, 1696/7, £48-12-10, and of Richard Squire, Cleeve
Prior, mason, 1687/8, £57-11-8, and of John Squire, Cleeve Prior, (no occupation given, but had slate,
stones and lime worth £3, etc), 1671, £42-19-8. WoRO, probate of Thomas Squire, Cleeve Prior, mason,
1702, £18-8-9 and of Charles Squire, Cleeve Prior, slater, 1728, £80-0-0, and of William Quinton, Bidford,
mason and limeman, 1741.
58 WoRO, probate of William Harward, Marlcliff, (Bidford), stonemason, 1778.
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