Mason’s Marks
Mason’s marks are an interesting aspect of stone masonry. There are several types, with different functions. However, these examples are of ‘Banker marks’.
The stone masons were paid by the piece – the more they carved, the more they got paid, and 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 (symbol). It also acted as a form of quality control – if a piece of stone was not up to scratch, the master mason could see at a glance who carved it. This concept of signing your work had been going on since the Medieval period, and continues to this day. It’s not often you get to see them, as more often than not they are on the reverse of the stone, hidden within the fabric of the structure or building.
These ones can be seen at the junction of Factory Lane and Old Tram Road, just about a mile south of Avenham Park, on the edge of Walton le Dale. They are where previously a span of the viaduct for the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway existed. They are on the base of what used to be an arch of a bridge, of this viaduct, with the railway going over the top, above Factory Lane. They would have been created in the middle of the 19th century.
The last one is not one of these ‘banker marks’. It is an upside-down OS (Ordnance Survey) Benchmark on a stone that must have been repositioned. It is upside-down compared to how they would normally be seen. That is a whole other story.
I can’t remember seeing any more in Walton le Dale or any other more central to the city of Preston, within the official boundaries.
Read more here:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/arthistory/people/ja/research/masonsmarks/
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