Local 18 year old is new Apprentice Stonemason at Salisbury Cathedral

Christian Sullivan (18) from Salisbury has been chosen from over forty candidates to be Salisbury Cathedral’s new full-time Apprentice Stonemason and begins his four year apprenticeship at the Cathedral this week.

He was chosen for the job, which becomes vacant just once every four years, following a rigorous selection process which involved a two day trial working through a series of tasks in the specialist Works Department under the watchful eye of Head Mason Chris Sampson.

Chris, who will be responsible for Christian’s training, said, “His keenness and commitment to the job were key influencing factors in appointing him. Christian is the ideal apprentice - young, enthusiastic, bright and highly motivated. It’s a bonus that he lives locally and knows the Cathedral and recognizes the importance of the building and all it stands for. We particularly wanted an apprentice with no prior experience or knowledge of stonemasonry as working on one of the finest medieval Cathedrals requires a very particular set of skills and an understanding of its archaeological and architectural features and how we work around them. Christian will start at the beginning, mastering the key basic skills and progressing whilst understanding the relevance of everything he does. During the first six months he’ll be introduced to the principle skills of working stone and basic geometric drawings which, once learnt, can be applied to every piece of stone.”

Christian first became interested in the apprenticeship having read about the work of the Cathedral’s previous Apprentice Stonemason in the local and specialist press. “It’s just a perfect apprenticeship in the perfect place and only one person gets it once every four years. I feel incredibly privileged to have the opportunity to learn the craft of stonemasonry in the traditional way whilst working on one of the country’s most beautiful medieval Cathedrals. It’s not just a monument, it’s a living building and then there’s the sheer scale of it - to work for that is thrilling.”

Katrine Sporle, Chapter Clerk, said, “Salisbury Cathedral Works Department has had apprentice masons for many generations and is regarded as a centre of stonemasonry excellence. Our specialist apprenticeships enable us to continue training the skilled artisans we need to maintain the fabric of the building at a time when the Cathedral is entering the last quarter of its Major Repair Programme which began 26 years ago. We are very grateful to all those who are supporting this new Apprenticeship, in particular The Wates Family Enterprise Trust, The Worshipful Company of Masons’ Craft Fund,The Worshipful Company of Constructors’ Charitable Trust and Aviva.”

• For more information about Salisbury Cathedral visit www.salcath.co.uk.