The completion of an apprenticeship is marked by ceremony and celebration. It is a time for all involved to recognize the achievements of the individual apprentices as well as the masters who have successfully transferred their skills. All involved turned out for the apprentice graduation.
James Jamerson, Tim Smith and Jose Tapia follow the procession on the main altar during their apprentice ceremony at the Cathedral on June 8, 1983. The three make up the first class of stonecutters to complete the four-year apprenticeship program. They all started in 1979 as part of the first five hires. Behind them is Master Mason James Bambridge. Leading the procession is Canon Edward Nason West. – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez
The Master Builder looks on as his first apprentices complete four years of work and learning. The ceremony in the Cathedral speaks volumes about the importance of the event to all concerned.
Dean James Park Morton, third from left, and Bishop Paul J. Moore, far right, follow the procession during the apprentice ceremony. – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez
After the impressive ceremony, well wishers and colleagues converge on the new journeymen. The apprentice graduation is a shared pride in this unique place.
Apprentice graduate James Jamerson, center, is congratulated by stone cutter Eddie Pizzaro and sawyer Al Rivera following the apprentice ceremony. – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez
Jose Tapia poses with his wife Doris Torres on a stack of stones following the apprentice ceremony at the Cathedral on June 8, 1983. – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez
New Journeyman stone masons with Master builder James Bambridge and cut stones – Robert F. Rodriguez photos
Generational Skills Passed Down
In the traditional apprentice program for stone masons, Master Masons passed their skills down to apprentices in a work and learn environment. For centuries, during the Middle Ages of Europe, The Master Masons conducted apprenticeship schools to teach the young apprentices the craft of stonemasonry and the art of geometry.
Geometry and Masonry were synonymous terms in the stonemasons training program. Geometry and building crafts secrets were passed down through the generations by word of mouth in the program.
Thanks to Jose Tapia for the information and the use of his Certificate.
Thanks to Robert F. Rodriguez for always being there when an important event happened in the stoneyard.
In 1989, Dean Morton asked D’Ellis Kincannon to create an architectural drawing of the Tower of St. Paul. This was the tower being constructed and a symbol of the working stoneyard. Parts of individual construction drawings, stitched together, formed the entire new drawing. The result was one complete drawing of the West Face of the Tower, to scale, with every stone, all 12,000, numbered. It also shows the construction zones A (lowest) through K (highest) and FP, from elevation 239’3″ to 393’0″. Dean Morton sent the drawing out as Merry Christmas from the Dean. Signed at the bottom right.
Reduced Drawing to fit on blog, actual size 3 feet X 8 feet.
The “card” must have amazed the recipients. It measured three feet wide and eight feet long. The detail and the precise joining of different drawings made for a beautiful presentation. “Jeep” Kincannon was justifiably proud of his work.
Detail of Composite Drawing assembled by “Jeep” Kincannon
A Symbol of Pride and Love
The Dean was ever so proud of the the stoneyard and the workers, which is probably why he wanted to send this impressive statement to friends and colleagues. It was symbolic in many ways. A story he once told involved a question from one man to another. The question asked was “What do you give a poor man?” The answer:
You give him a dollar for bread, and another one for a flower.
Dean Morton knew the spiritual impact of the Cathedral building program on the community. At a time when the neighborhood was struggling in so many ways, some thought that all funds should be directed to social programs. In a way, the stoneyard was his flower to the community.
Merry Christmas from the Dean
Thanks to Stephen Boyle for sharing this with us and to Pamela Morton for the photo.
Once the stone cutters numbers grew and the quantity of cut stones reached a certain point, it was time to add stone carvers to the mix. In keeping with the principle of the medieval stoneyard, certain stone cutters would be candidates for carving training. With the aid of an Endowment for the Arts grant the Cathedral finds a stone carver.
A Chance Meeting
One day when Jim Bambridge was back in Dorset working on drawings, he was driving in nearby Somerset. He saw a stone carving activity and pulled off the road to see what was taking place. There he met young Nick Fairplay. Nick was helping his friend, Master Carver Mel Morris Jones. Jones’ commission involved Dolphins for the Naval College in Greenwich. This chance meeting lead to the recruitment of Nick Fairplay to direct the carving at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the fall of 1984.
Fairplay’s Training
Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK, Fairplay left school at 16. He applied for a stone apprenticeship but the company already had their quota of two apprentices. He told them he would work for them for free, for 6 months. His goal for the period was to be better than at least one of the existing apprentices. At the end of the period, he was put on full time for the work on Chichester Cathedral. A similar work rule almost kept him from becoming a carver on this job, but his persistence overcame it.
He later became gargoyle carver on the restoration of the North Front and Henry 7th Chapel at Westminster Abbey. After receiving his degree from City and Guilds of London Art School in life drawing and clay modeling, he won the Beckwith Travel scholarship for Drawing and continued his studies of Renaissance, Baroque and Roman Architecture and sculpture in Rome.
“My training was in medieval and classical ornament on English Cathedrals and Parish churches. Working on Westminster Abbey with one hundred men gave me a wealth of experience. They had trained in shops with 400 men after World War II. I wasn’t just learning from the work I was carving, I also learned from the work the older men were carving.”
– Nicholas Fairplay
At The Cathedral
Nick arrived at the Cathedral to begin his job instructing design, drawing, modeling, carving, technical drawing and theory. The Cathedral finds a stone carver but there wasn’t much yet to work with. The carving shed had to be built, apprentices had to be chosen and the supervision of the cutters was temporarily vacant. He agreed to fill in with the cutters for a time. Both Jim Bambridge and Dean Morton gave him advice on selecting the carver trainees once he was ready. Each had their recommendations for the apprentices to move to carver training. Each recommendation involved different people. Fairplay designed a competition. Anyone interested could submit. They were asked to carve a crocket, based on one he carved and was the model for the competition.
The Crocket
A crocket is a hook-shaped decorative element common in Gothic architecture. It is a small, independent, sharply projecting medieval ornament, usually occurring in rows, and decorated with foliage. In the 12th century when it first appeared, the crocket had the form of a ball-like bud with a spiral outline. In the later Gothic period it took the form of open, fully developed leaves that by the 15th century had evolved onto richly involuted forms. Crockets are used especially on the inclined edges of spires, pinnacles, and gables. They can also be found on capitals and cornices.
The submitted crockets were numbered and the Dean and Master Builder were called in to evaluate them and vote on the best. They had to agree on which three were the best. Once they agreed, Fairplay turned the numbers over to reveal the winners names. They were Ruben Gibson, Jeep Kincannon and Angel Escobar. Angel made it known that he preferred to stay in the cutting shed for the time being. This elevated Joseph Kincannon’s entry into the finals. These three then began their training as stone carvers.
First Carvers – Ruben Gibson, D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon, Cynie Linton, Joseph Kincannon, Master Carver Nicholas Fariplay
Special thanks to Nick Fairplay and Joseph Kincannon for the information in this post.
James R. Bambridge on Southwest Tower of the Cathedral overlooking New York. – Photo YOU magazine UK
The Master Builder in New York follows Jim Bambridge to the Cathedral St. John the Divine in New York City. Bishop Moore and Dean Morton made the decision to renew construction, beginning with the towers on the West Front. There were, however, a few minor delaying factors to contend with. There was no architect, no documents, no stones, no stonecutting equipment and no stonecutting craftsmen. Jim Bambridge was sent for to direct the overall project. He is a throwback to slower times and gentler ways, a fastidious man who builds churches out of an affinity for stone and styling rather than any great spiritual mission.
“There might be five like me around”
– Jim Bambridge
Above all, he was uniquely trained, a man of increasing rare skills. He would oversee management, the execution of drawings, the stone cutting, and the construction. Among his first tasks was converting the 1/8 in. original 1929 blueprints of Ralph Adams Cram to 1/2 in. working drawings.
Construction Drawings – Photo Stan Ries for Oculus
Jim Bambridge working on construction drawings
From Oculus, New York AIA, Oct. 1985
Design Documents
Ralph Adams Cram had long since died (1942). Furthermore, the sole survivor of his firm, the late John Doran, could find only 1/8 in. scale drawings of the West Front Towers, dated 1925, 1928, 1929, and 1930. The question posed was, which of the preliminary designs was to be the guideline? Eventually, the Fabric Committee selected the 1929 scheme as Cram’s preferred design. The 1930 towers’ design were 38 feet lower, reflecting the Depression.
Cram’s 1929 design, from Oculus, New York AIA, October 1985
The detail of the the spires that will adorn the world’s largest Anglican Cathedral are calculated in the small Dorset village where Bambridge spends five out of every eight weeks. He lives in a cottage – in which out of habit, he has built a fireplace that he describes as baronial – with his wife, mother-in-law, and a dog and three ducks. The working plans he takes to New York to be translated into full scale templates.
He could cut stone as well.
“T0 be a good stone mason”, he said, “you must have an eye for surfaces. You must visualize the finished job before you start, so when you drop into the stone with your chisel, you knew where you were going. Don’t tap the stone like a chicken. Be authoritative. Strike the chisel forcefully with a regular beat.”
The Next Generation
Of all the tasks he performed exceptionally, the one that appears to be dearest to his heart was training his crew. Years before, he had told his sister…
“I’m afraid Doreen, unless we can train more youngsters to the stone trade, the skills will die”
-Jim Bambridge, as told by his sister Doreen Clark
Bambridge With Apprentices
Doreen Clark, Jim’s sister recalls his story of his first week as the Master Builder in New York when the apprentices showed up with guns and knives. Horrified, he told them they must not bring weapons into a sacred ground. The young men from Harlem told him they might be killed coming or going if they did not.
“My brother then understood, saw a small office area, opened the door and inside were shelves. He asked them if they knew their own weapons? Yes was the reply. Now he told them that once inside (the stoneyard) he would open the door to the office, ‘I hold the only key’, place your weapons on the shelf, I will lock it. Come 5 pm, you may retrieve your weapon.”
– Doreen Clark
Master Builder Bambridge’s principal successors in New York at St. John the Divine will be Stephen Boyle and Alan Bird, his British assistants and D’Ellis Kincannon. Kincannon worked as a mail boy in the diocese office, applied to become an apprentice and has, according to an enthusiastic Bambridge, emerged as a natural and gifted mason. You would think the stones he turns out, Bambridge says reverently, had been poured from a mold.
D’Ellis “Jeep” Kincannon carving pinnacle base – Photo Robert F. Rodriguez
He oversees his pupils with a gruff benevolence that tries, and fails, to hide his pride in their achievements and his own sense of mission.
“The great fulfillment for me is that I can teach another generation of stone cutters. That’s more important than completing the Cathedral.”
– Jim Bambridge
Back in England
After 7 years, Bambridge returned to England and worked as Stone Consultant on Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square. On a surprise visit to the job site by sister Doreen, Jim was at lunch. Indicating she would come back later, a gentleman stopped her. “Come with me”, he said as he guided her over close to Nelson’s Column. “Look at the top of Grand Buildings, you will see 10 sculptured faces there, the third one in from the right is your brother.” At the fourth floor level, Sculptor Barry Baldwin had carved keystone portrait heads of the important individuals responsible for the development and construction.
Upon the completion of Grand Buildings, Jim Bambridge retired to the small holding in Dorset. He was visited there by his highly regarded assistant and Master Mason Stephen Boyle.
Special thanks to Doreen Clark for sharing her memories of her brother.
YOU magazine, UK, Daily Mail
Oculus, New York Chapter AIA, October 1985, Vol 47, Number 2
