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Trades: Builders

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

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The house called Underwoods, formerly Elmhurst, Frome Road, under construction in about 1900

Early references to builders, even until up to the nineteenth century, are often to be found under carpenters, perhaps because houses were originally of timber construction, even in this area of abundant stone. Only the most prestigious buildings, especially churches, were made with walls of stone, even rough rubble stone. Gradually, as timber-framed walls were replaced with stone, the builders became masons.

The wealth of good building stone in and around Bradford on Avon was exploited by a number of families of builders, with several generations working in the trade. Their work extended beyond the local area to other parts of Wiltshire and Somerset.

For detailed lists of builders, see Pamela Slocombe’s books  Architects and building craftsmen with work in Wiltshire, 1996 & 2006.