Some Glossary of terms on Stonemasons ASHLAR:- A block of stone cut to have squared sides often used instead of brick in the construction of old buildings. The faces of the stone were usually left smooth but a soft stone Ashlar could be tooled to give them a decorative finish 　 　 BANKER:-This was the mason who carved stones into shapes on a huge stone bench ( banker stone) before it went to the fixer masons to put in positions on the building. The banker mason marked each stone he had carved with his own unique symbol. 　 FREESTONE:- Stone that could be cut in any direction, as opposed to another stone known as "ragstone" a term given to any stone that was hard to work with the chisel Freestone to be of value must be soft enough to cut and carved easily without chattering and splitting. 　 MASTER MASON:- A Stonemason at the very top of his careet, capable of undertaking and supervising every single aspect of stonework from cutting and shaping to the role of architect. Masters might specialise in carving work or basic paving slabs, but all employed JOURNEYMEN and took on apprentices, and had higher incomes that the ordinary stonemason JOURNEYMAN:- the word that made me go fossicking for further information on such a man, as it appeared next to Apothecaries and other clases of Job Descriptions and discovered that He is an Itinerant one who moves about in pursuit of his work.......... So a stone mason Journeyman has served his apprenticeship under a master mason, or learned the trade as a labourer, and once he has learnt the trade he can work for years under the one master. Or travel the country in search of work, be it construction or repair work on- as did Journeyman Apothecaries etc. 　 In 1831 the FRIENDLY SOCIETY OF OPPERATIVE STONEMASONS Of England, Ireland and Wales ( FSOS) was established, by adopting a strategy of conciliation that kept disputes to a minium,it grew in strength to become a corner stone of building trades and unionism throughout the 19th Century. They called a strike in 1877 in support of a claim for 10d an hour, which in turn was defeated, which lead to wage cuts, and longer hours for thousands of stonemasons and from that point on the society went into delcine. In 1921 it re-emerged under the name Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers after merging with bricklayers societies. And Although not an Irish site worth a browse is this one:- http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/subject_guides/family_history/stone/ Cheers Cara