Medieval Masons Marks in St Andrews Langar

In common with all medieval churches St Andrews was built before the days of architects. The responsibility for designing and building the church lay with the Master Mason and his team of masons and labourers. There were no plans or architectural drawings on paper. The design was marked out on the ground with pegs and string to outline the position of the walls. Details of the windows, arcades etc were sketched out on any convenient piece of stone using simple geometric tools such as dividers and straight edge. To ensure that the dividers were sharp enough to scribe on the stone, the masons would often create patterns on walls or pillars. Examples of these trial markings can be found on two of the pillars in the nave of St Andrews. Who made these marks, and when, is not known, but it was likely to have been in the early 13th century during the construction of the church. Most are in the form of circles and concentric circles along with floral designs. However, on Pillar V (see plan overleaf) there are some intriguing graffiti which may represent images of the church or a simple crane. They are best viewed using a torch shone across the pillar to bring the markings into relief. Transcriptions of the markings have been made and can be found on pages 4, 5, 6, and 7 of this article.

Medieval Masons Dividers

Pillar I with scribed concentric circle marks as shown by the arrows.

Plan of St Andrews showing the location s of the masons marks and graffiti. They are to be found on Pillars I and V at the west end of the nave, either side of the font. St Andrews Church

One of the graffiti on Pillar V. This may be a drawing of a simple crane to be used for raising stones.

Two of the masons marks on Pillar I. The upper photograph shows a scribed circle within a circle and the one on the left shows a floral design.

An enlargement of a photograph of one of the pieces of graffiti on Pillar V shown as a black and white image with increased contrast to bring out the detail. It is possibly a sketch of the church. The original colour photograph is shown below.

Text, line drawings and photographs of the masons marks and graffiti by Nigel Wood.