Masterminding the repairs: the masons

Master masons would act as contractors, engineers and architects - not just leading the design phase but also getting their hands dirty with the building work. They learned their trade on building sites, rising up the ranks of roughmasons (unskilled) or freemasons (skilled) to the elite role of master mason, responsible for all stages of the building process. In manuscripts, they are usually depicted with a setsquare and also sometimes a pair of compasses.

Leading the start of the rebuilding project in the nave was Master Henry Wy, about whom it is written that ‘he deserved to be specially chosen for this job of great importance’ (The Deeds of the Abbots). He was supported in his work by Abbot Hugh de Eversden, about whom the Abbey Chronicler wrote: ‘he began to reduce the day to day food for himself and his monks in the hope that by that means he might be allowed somehow to make good that grievous loss. The consequence was that God saw his pious intention and opportunely helped the work…’ (The Deeds of the Abbots)

St Albans Abbey had not always been fortunate in its choice of master mason, however. In about 1200 Master Hugh de Goldcliffe was described as ‘deceitful and a liar’, and his bad advice led to the work falling into ruin before it had even been completed. According to the Abbey Chronicler, ‘the ruins with their pieces of carved images and flowers and the work aroused the laughter and jeers of onlookers. The workmen departed in despair without being paid for the work that they had done.’ (The Deeds of the Abbots)

Some later works undertaken in the 1300s were overseen by renowned master mason Henry Yevele, although it is unlikely that he was appointed early enough to have been involved in the rebuilding work on the nave. Yevele also worked on the Palace of Westminster, Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey, and was one of the period’s most prolific masons.

Nave carved heads

It is believed that one of the master masons is depicted in the most westerly of the four carved heads in the repaired south section of the nave. It may have been Henry Wy, who started the project, or a later master mason – perhaps the one who completed it, although we don’t have their name.

Of the other carved heads, the most easterly is an abbot – probably one of those involved in the rebuilding work. The two central heads are those of a king and queen. There is debate whether these are Edward II and Isabella of France, or Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. Both kings had strong connections with the Abbey: Edward II visited at least nine times during his reign, giving 100 marks and a supply of timber for the building of a new choir in 1314, and Edward III regularly broke his journey north to enjoy the hospitality of the Abbey. At this date, standardised carvings for figures were used rather than likenesses, which doesn’t help identification.