Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

families may have enjoyed a better life-style than Parr, but did not rival the richer
yeomen-farmers. Within the family some members specialised in different aspects of the
trade. Charles Squire was a ‘slatter’ (slater) and possessed special ‘slatting tools’. The
mention of the lime-kiln shows that they were burning lime to make mortar and fertiliser.
The stone from the ‘square pitts’ was probably particularly suitable for building, but
stone furniture and troughs were also produced. 59
No doubt the stonemason’s trade
presented many dangers; perhaps Bidford’s lame apprentice mason had been injured in
his wor
k. 60
As noted earlier, most master quarrymen were simply termed ‘(stone)masons’, but
Robert Wilkes is described both as ‘mason’ and ‘stone-cutter’ in probate, while
William Laughton was described as both ‘stone-cutter’ and ‘stone-carver’. 61
Monumental inscriptions produced by the Laughton family in the eighteenth century
survive to this day. 62
In Period D the quarrying parishes continued to provide employment for
stonemasons, stonecutters, quarrymen, slaters, lime-burners and lime-workers, while
some associated occupations appear for the first time: stone-rubber, stone-sawyer and
sculptor. 63
As noted earlier, the term ‘mason’ is counted in the building sector, but in
reality many masons were also quarrymen. Taking the building and extractive sectors
59 WoRO, probate of Thomas Squire, Cleeve Prior, mason, 1702, mentions stones at the ‘square pitts’
which may refer to the shape of the quarry, but more likely the type of stone cut there. WoRO, probate of
Mary Guillam, Bidford, widow, 1736/7 includes ‘3 freestone troves’ (troughs) and that of Thomas
Harward, Bidford, mason, 1748 mentions stone dressers (as furniture) in his will.
60 Johnson, Warwick County Records, 8, p. 143, quotes quarter sessions 1685, concerning John Hall,
Bidford, apprentice mason, so lame he could not do his master’s service.
61 WoRO, probate of Robert Wilkes, Bidford, mason/stone-cutter, 1786. WoRO, marriage licence of
William Laughton, Cleeve Prior, stone-cutter, May 1775. TNA, IR1/60, inland revenue apprentice returns,
record William Laughton, Cleeve Prior, stone-carver, taking on an apprentice in 1778.
62 For example, one from 1755 by John Laughton at Himbleton, Worcestershire, mentioned in T. Bridges,
Churches of Worcestershire, (Logaston, Logaston Press, 2005), p. 123.
63 Stone saw mills in Bidford are advertised in the PO Warwickshire Directory 1845.
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