The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain

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He goes on to explain that Portland was where Robert Hook first realised there had been species that no longer existed and speculated on evolution 250 years before Darwin. The text effortlessly transfers to The Monument in London built of Portland stone by Wren and Hooke, “drawing together the purest and most harmonious parts of the Enlightenment.” It did exactly the same job as the war memorial in Frome. It's about a community coming together to mourn those who have passed, and a focal point for that society. He was working on Walcot Street in Bath when Nigel Farage was asked to refrain from filming in the nearby Bell Inn. Ziminski reflected on how Walcot means "Welsh cottages" in Saxon, and how there are Roman cemeteries that straddle Walcot Street. "The remains of Syrian merchants were excavated from these cemeteries," he notes. "Two thousand years ago, Bath was more multicultural than it is now. This notion that white, Anglo-Saxon folk put together everything we know is complete nonsense."

My book, forthcoming in 2023, is passionately partisan. It has been a labour of love and solidarity into which I have poured countless hours over several years. Focusing on British complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, it is an anti-racist analysis of the pro-Israel lobby which argues that we must strongly oppose both Israeli apartheid (and its supporters) and anti-Semitism. Writing about this topic, especially as a trans nonbinary person of colour, has often been a struggle. Being awarded the John C Laurence Award, and knowing that others believe in my work, is a huge confidence boost and I’m grateful to The Authors’ Foundation for its support.The book comes satisfyingly full circle to the sarsen stones of Salisbury Plain where it begins with Andrew spending a fitful night in a long barrow near Stonehenge. He concludes: “Stone as a material has allowed the meaning of these monuments to the dead to endure beyond their time. As I have attempted to negotiate my own understanding of the past, I am left touched with the notion that every building, sculpture and structure I have seen in my journey was created by people who felt and thought in a way that was familiar to us, a thread of connection and culture that in some way will continue to run on through the generations.” Minerva usually works in the area known as Wessex in the UK, but undertakes church monument conservation work throughout the UK and abroad.

Work to restore the Cascade and Serpentine Lake at Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath, for the National Trust. This might be the annual standoff between the differing archdruids at Stonehenge, gowned and straw boater-ed Rollo Maughfling and tin-crowned, sword-wielding Arthur Pendragon (ever ready to defend the henge from the maltreatment of “English Heretics”, as the sight’s modern custodians are known in Druidic circles); or, more personally, the torment of spending days strapped to the tower of St James’ Trowbridge, where “the aroma of the Ushers brewery merged with the aromatic delights of the adjacent Bowyers sausage and pork pie factory…”

He says honing the craft of writing was like learning stonemasonry and he started hesitantly. The first chapter took him a year to write and repeatedly re-write. The final chapter was finished in three weeks and did not change much from the original draft. I have greatly appreciated the expertise of you and your colleagues as we worked through the unexpected complications of this year's work. It is always a pleasure to work with people who make their own craftsman contributions rather than just doing what was originally specified”.