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Archaeologia Cantiana -  Vol. 58  1945  page 36

Recent discoveries in the Archives of Canterbury Cathedral
 a note on the Craftsmen
by John H. Harvey

a sculptor (after 1231); carpenters, Radulf (dead by 1254), Elyas (dead by 1266), Eylwin (1275, 1277), Elyas (1275, 1290), William (c. 1278), William de Bedeford (1290), Henry (dead by 1288), Warin (dead by 1290), and Simon (1290). The last named may be identified with the Master Simon de Canterbury, carpenter, who resided in London from 1299 to his death in 1341.4
   The early masons included Eudo (1233), Anselm (1254), Luke (dead by 1261), Alwred (died c. 1250), Robert (1288), Nicholas (1290), and Master Michael, of Northgate Ward (1275, 1290). This Master Michael was clearly a man of importance, for to him alone is the prefix "Magister" awarded. It is tempting to identify him with that Master Michael of Canterbury who made the Cheapdale Eleanor Cross for Edward I between 1291 and 1293, and in 1292 began St. Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster. This may well explain the close resemlances which have been observed between the tomb of Archbishop Peckham (†1292) at Canterbury, and that of Edmund Crouchback (†1296) in Westminster Abbey, as well as to the extant fragments of the Cheapside Cross.5
   The list of "tradesmen" (Homines de Mestier) of 1334 does not include the important craftsmen, who ranked as esquires (Armigeri) but gives the name of the resident carpenter, Elyas, and mentions the Master Plumber and the (eternal) plumber's mate. The accounts of 1338, 1340 and 1341 refer to John Gildene, mason, who appears to

have been a local builder in a fair way of business, since he built a new chamber at Eastry as well as working in the Cathedral.
   In the second half of the fourteenth century occur several important items, particularly in connection with the earthquake of the 21st May, 1382, which seriously damaged the Infirmary Chapel and the east walk of the old cloisters. The repairs mentioned in the account of 1383 did not last long, for in the twenty years priorate of Thomas Chillenden (1391-1411) the Cloisters were entirely rebuilt and vaulted in stone.6 Probably the earthquake led to the stoppage of work on the new nave, which had been in progress since 1378.7 This, too, was taken in hand by Chillenden and carried to a triumphant conclusion; in the account for 1396/7 we see in brief the activity of a single year. The working staff comprised 20 freemasons (latomi) 3 setters (leggeres), and 4 labourers to assist them, all hired by the year at a total cost of £167 0s. 8d. This allowed for three unpaid holidays of a week each at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun, as well as certain unpaid feast days. The current rates of pay would be approximately 3s. per week for freemasons, 2s. 6d. for setters, and 2s. for labourers, which would work out at rather less than 45 weeks' work in the year, or a total of some 30 unpaid festivals in addition to the three weeks' holidays. The masons were less fortunate than those employed on the King's works, where approximately half the 40 to 50 feast days in the year were paid

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