Glenbuchat Heritage

41 Mason's mark on the Nochty Bridge

See page on the Nochty Bridge for more details.

A mason's mark is a symbol often found on dressed stone in buildings and other public structures.

Scottish rules issued in 1598 stated that on admission to the guild, every mason had to enter his name and his mark in a register.

There are two types of marks used by stonemasons.

1.Layout marks, which delineated the position of a piece of stone in the overall design. Since stone was usually worked at the quarry or in the masons' yard, rather than in situ, such marks were necessary for efficient operations. Medieval carpenters also used this sort of mark.
2."Signature" marks that pertained to a particular mason or workshop. This is what is generally meant by the term. Merchants also had such marks, used to mark their goods.
The exact purpose of mason's marks is unclear, although it is generally assumed that they mark the working of a piece of masonry by a particular mason, in order to claim payment. Others are assumed to indicate the position in which a stone should be laid. It has also been suggested that marks indicate the origin of the stone, or the location in which it was worked.

Marks are found in Freemasonry, a fraternal order that uses the analogy of stonemasonry for its degree structure. In the Mark Master Degree, a Freemason will be asked to create a mark, as a type of unique signature or identifying mark.