I used to work for a printing company in Gloucester, it was a career break from my former trade which was drawing cartoons for a living. I was hired to sell print, very kind of them to have the faith in me to think that I could do it.

One of my clients at the company was the Cathedral in Gloucester. They proved to be brilliant clients in every respect. Apart from being a joy to work with ( and unlike some clients I always considered that I worked with them rather than for them ) I had the joy of being able to visit the place on many occasions. There’s little to beat the visual splendour of the cloisters in Gloucester early in a sunny morning. They were also happy to let me take photos on any of my visits, which was another bonus.

On one of my visits I was lucky enough to be able to go around the mason’s yard. The Cathedral has a permanent staff of masons where they are constantly repairing or remaking parts of the building. It was here that I took these images of the making of a gargoyle. These sculptures are to replace older gargoyles that have been weathered beyond recognition. The photos taken over a few months of course.

Here you see images of the first drawings of the gargoyle, one of the masons working on the gargoyle, and the resulting final sculpture in place on the roof of the Cathedral.

My thanks to The Master Mason, Pascal Mychalysin, and his team of masons at the Cathedral for allowing me into their shed. Interestingly, Pascal, is a big fan of cartoons and always told me how much he admired the work of Bill Tidy. I am also a big fan of Bill Tidy too.

There’s more information about the masons here, and for more about Bill Tidy, click from here.