Swales In The Dales News/Blog | Skipton | Swales In he Dales

Getting ready to carve a poem around a seating area in Skipton wood

Getting ready to carve a poem around a seating area in Skipton wood

Today we went to Skpton to get ready for a commission we've been asked to do for the Woodland Trust. We've been asked to carve a poem around this large seating area. So seeming it was a nice day we took up some of our scaffold tower to the seating area just in case we needed to build a shelter if it rains. We are really looking forward to this job so keep looking back to see our progress. Team effort taking this lot up as it was a fair old hike! Check back soon. #stonecarving

The Making Of The Ale Stone

The Making Of The Ale Stone

We were asked by our good friend Alan McEwen from Dandelion Stone Troughs if we could make a table top in the form of a millstone. This would be for a customer of theirs that was opening a micro pub called 'THE ALE STONE'! This was going to be a challenging one because a millstone has deep grooves called 'furrows', the furrows help the grain thats been ground escape the millstone. If people were going to use this as a table we needed to come up with a way to make it look like

Marble Fingers #2

Marble Fingers #2

As you may remember just before we broke up for Christmas a gentleman came to the workshop with a statue of a little girl that had been in a bit of an accident. At some point she had fallen forward and broken off her fingers. Here she is after a good deep clean to get rid of years of built up dirt. As you can see she's fingerless, the dark patches on her hands are were someone has tried to glue the fingers back on but failed. Over time the fingers have gone missing except for

Because their names are covered in snow

Because their names are covered in snow

The cold frozen monaliths of a time standing still, In a grave yard on top of a Yorkshire hill, With winters so harsh they've survived the test of time, Some stand up straight, some lay on the ground and some are on an incline! But who were they? Nobody knows. Because their names are covered in snow! Carved by stonemasons with pride and grace, So we can remember them in their final resting place. So until the winters sun melts the snowy blanket away, They will stay a blank ca

A Yorkshire rose repairs a fireplace

A Yorkshire rose repairs a fireplace

Your probably thinking how can a Yorkshire rose repair a fireplace? Well i'm about to tell you. We had a customer come to us about a problem with their Inglenook fireplace. The Problem was a bowl shaped hole in the top right hand corner of the stone work, which was probably taken out to house part of the stove or some sort of cooking implement. An 'Inglenook' is a small recess that adjoins a fireplace. The word is formed with Ingle, meaning "fireplace" in Old English and Nook

Testimonial from Mother Shiptons Cave, Knaresborough

Testimonial from Mother Shiptons Cave, Knaresborough

“Swales in the Dales created a carved stone to be placed within the Mother Shipton’s Cave park in Knaresborough. This creates added interest for visitors and looks great! The service was professional and prompt and a continued business relationship has been established. Thank you!” #YorkshireStonemasons #skipton #swalesinthedales #crosshills #Knearsbrough #stone #MotherShiptonsCave #masons #stonemasonry #heritage #traditionalcraft #masonryrepair #yorkshire #stonemasons #Sto

Leigh Mill House Grindstone House Name

Leigh Mill House Grindstone House Name

Today October 21st 2016 I finished the carving of a house name for my good friends Alan and Christine McEwen from Dandelion Stone Troughs. Please visit their website its www.dandelionstonetroughs.co.uk One of their customers bought an old stone grindstone which was used in by gone days to sharpen a whole range of ferrous tools. A grindstone is a round stone very similar to a millstone. They were powered in many ways, the earliest ones were operated by a crank handle then late

Bracken Ghyll Golf Club

Bracken Ghyll Golf Club

Today Wednesday October 19th 2016 I completed the carving on the huge lump of Yorkshire stone up at Bracken Ghyll Golf Club, Addingham, West Yorkshire. This Stone is around 4ft x 3ft in size and will be going on the footpath going up to the first hole on the golf course. The weather slowed down the job in hand especially yesterday (Tuesday) but I managed to get the stone clayed up (we use a watery clay on the surface of the stone to help protect it when we paint the letters.)

My Daddy and his work

My Daddy and his work

My Daddy is very good at carving and he works very hard even when he is poorly with his illness. Daddy does amazing work for his customers and makes signs for their houses. It makes me feel happy when I see my Daddys work and i like to go down to his workshop and watch him. My Daddy helps me with my own carvings and I would like to work with him when i'm a big girl. Please help my Daddy and let him make you a sign. Love Ruby xxxxxx Me carving a R for Ruby. Me and my Daddy. #

A repair to a crack in a mantle.

A repair to a crack in a mantle.

Today 27th September we set off up to Skyreholme in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales to a customer who had a crack in their mantle piece. The customers are wanting to sell their house and wanted this crack repairing. We used a specialist stonemasons glue to fill the crack and let it go hard. Once it had gone off we could then tool up the area to match the existing marks and blend back in. As you can see the new fixed area now blends in with the existing area. But! Its a bit l

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