Beyond Graffiti – The Project
With money from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Getty Foundation and other contributors, we’ve set up a project in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, called ‘Beyond Graffiti’ to introduce 140 young people (and the not so young!) to stone and carving in the local landscape (including milestones and other waymarkers) ; this will culminate in exhibitions at Oakwell Hall and the Packhorse Gallery Huddersfield throughout July 2014, themed ‘Milestones and Waymarking‘.
Beyond-Graffiti 
Thank you for the experience, i really enjoyed working with Mr Griffis on the dry stone walling and also the visit to Johnson’s quarry i found very interesting and useful!
I really enjoyed the stone sculpting and, learning the travel history about West Yorkshire very interesting as a whole, thank you very much.
The project was amazing. I really liked the quarry visit and also I liked the dry stone walling. I thought jan was really enthusiastic. Simon
It was interesting to learn about the history of stone throughout Huddersfield.
i absolutely loved the project and so thankful for the opportunity to do the project ! I really enjoyed the Shibden Hall day, the dry stone walling and the stone carving. Thankyou for the yummy chocolate biscuits and the warm drinks you provided.
I have learnt a lot from the whole project !
Thank you again ! 🙂
Thank you so much for everthing. I really enjoyed all the project and found it all very intresting from the dry stone walling to the town walk in Hudderfield. I also enjoyed the stone carveing and found this very fun.
I also found the history of the very intresting expecially when we was doing the town walk through Hudderfield and I learned alot about the history of Hudderfield and its made me appriate old buildings more.
Thank you for a very interesting project and the last few weeks have been very enjoyable.
We all met Jan at the Packhorse gallery and had an interesting slide show on the history of Huddersfield in stone. We then, after a very welcome cup of tea and a chocolate digestive, went on a walk about of Huddersfield town looking up at the amazing architecture across the eras and how the history of Huddersfield could be seen through its building styles and their ornamentation . We also all saw Lowry’s art depicting life and the buildings of Huddersfield in his time [1965]. Thanks Jan for a really interesting experience for us all.
Last week was our second and final day sculpting our horse shoes as route markers for the Rideway at Oakwell hall Country Park – we all now in Year 1 countryside have had a go and all really enjoyed it. We worked hard and can fully realise how much expertise,physical work and artistic brilliance goes into producing sculptures like the ones Mel showed us. We are in awe. Thanks to brunel house for the workshop and mel for showing us how to sculpt and jan for organising it all and the yummy biscuits !
The Streetscene apprentices really enjoyed the stone carving workshops and the waymarkers they’ve created will look fantastic in Dewsbury Country Park. Great to learn all about milestones and highways history too. Thanks! Simon.
A very talented group, Simon – some excellent work !!
The 18th March saw the heavens open on the Countryside students as they joined Jan on a visit to Johnson’s Quarry. However despite the deluge and windy site the visit was excellent. The people from the quarry who showed us round were attentive and very informative and it was a really interesting experience. In fact several students thought they would apply to work there in the future. Thanks to you all.
The weather could have been more kind to us! Just imagine working splitting Yorkstone flags all day in the open. The huge cutting tools and the intricate robots in the workshops are a real contrast, aren’t they?!
Another superb day with this project for the Kirklees Countryside students -this time at kirklees College’s Brunel house with Melanie -a sculptor extrordinaire – learning more about stone and making horseshoe waymarkers from sandstone to go onto Oakwell Hall’s bridleway -to be continued and finished in 2 weeks time. We all enjoyed this new experience hugely, thanks to Melanie and Jan and of course Brunel house.
Thank you to Jan, Sue and David for a wonderful day at Shibden Hall for my students on the Countryside management course at Kirklees College. You are all inspirational people and it is a pleasure to meet you and take part in this project. We all had a great day of learning which will be remembered with pleasure and see them onto future career choses.
my learners – a little challenge – spot the deliberate spelling mistake ! Helen
We’re delighted you found it interesting !!
What a pleasant, enthusiastic group you have, Helen – we look forward to working with them over the next four events, too !
Thank you for the experience, the Drystone wall exhibition is so interesting. The practical lesson with Mr Griffiths has really inspired me to persue the trade further, thanks again! will be coming back for a visit very soon.
I thought that the trips are very interesting so far I have learnt a lot thank you for this experience.
Thanks, Billy – glad you are enjoying the programme !
This has helped me learn about dry stone walling and is something to put on my cv
And you are creating some waymarkers to prove you were there, too !
Hi Bradley, your carved stone waymarker will prove you have new skills as well !!
I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the project and that it has been a great experience so far, it is not often these opportunities come a long and I wish you every success in the continuation and completion of the project.
I am sure each and every student gained something from each stage of the programme and will look back in future years realising what a great part they played in creating a little part of local history.
Thanks again
Jason Chapman
(Brickwork / Construction Lecturer – Kirklees College)
Many thanks for all your enthusiastic support and input, Jason – you are inspiring your students!
Jan ~
Thanks I’ve enjoyed thew whole thing as I learnt how and what tools and materials are needed. I too enjoyed learning what bricks or stone are used for what reason and why
I think that all of it was good and it has given me some good experience.
That’s great, thanks, Kierran !!
Thankyou for the oppourtunity as it has been an experience to learn how carving and drystone walling is done. Also I’ve enjoyed thew whole thing as I learnt how and what tools and materials are needed. I too enjoyed learning what bricks or stone are used for what reason and why.
Thankyou for the oppourtunity as it has been an experience to learn how carving and drystone walling is done. Also I’ve enjoyed thew whole thing as I learnt how and what tools and materials are needed. I too enjoyed learning what bricks or stone are used for what reason and why.
good day. cheers mel and dave.
enjoyed my carving as i got to finnish it off by painting it.
I enjoyed the stone carving and found the techniques they taugh us was good. It was a good experience and may do further in the future 🙂
i liked stone carving i found it a challenge.
i enjoyed the stone carving i was happy i completed it and foudn it interesting and glad i learnt some new skills i can use in my furtue
i enjoyed the stone carvin yesterday i hope to learn the skills for in the furture
I bet you did even better on the second day – glad you enjoyed it too –
Jan 🙂
I found making the stone carving was a very good thing. I found it very interesting and something that I enjoyed. Also I found that the techniques used to make carvings in the stone were interesting and useful to me in the future. 🙂
I hope you’ll be able to find opportunities for more practice, Kierran ! Maybe you will be a Master stone-mason some day?! Jan 🙂
did some stone masonary its very hard to do.. but i would never have the patience to do it for a living. good day though 🙂
You made great progress on the second day, Connor !!
Jan 🙂
did some stone carving and it was good
You took some great photos of your colleagues, John – see them on our facebook page!
I really enjoyed the carving as it was a challange and something to experience.
A really neat piece of work, Wincent – one of the first to finish, too!
Jan ~
Yesterday we took our second outing from the Kirklees College brickwork section as part of the ‘beyond graffiti’ project to Johnsons Quarry to see where our local stone was sourced.
It was an interesting afternoon finding out fascinating facts about this local family run business that has been around since the 1850’s.
The actual stone from the quarry is an amazing 320 to 350 million years old and its proper title for this region is Grit-stone.
The stone is broken from the quarry face using giant 360 track machines not by blasting with explosives. It is then broken into 8 ton boulders which make it easier to handle!Each boulder has its own postcode so they know exactly where in the quarry it came from should there be any defects found.The boulder then goes through a process of sawing and cutting machines and can end up being anything from sand to vaulted arches for wine cellars! The cost of these products can vary from a couple of pounds for a bag of sand to millions of pounds for the masonary components for massive building projects. A great afternoon out. Thanks everyone involved.
had a good day yesterday looking at all the quarry it was a shame that the main quarry was flooded and couldnt go down it was also intresting how old the stones actually was and how they make big chunks of stone into actually shape and used around england.
Couldnt make it yesterday to johnsons quarry as i was too ill too come but i saw the pictures and it looked very intresting with how the stone went throught the process.
We missed you, Jon – hope you’ll feel better next week, it’s the first stone carving session !
i had a good day at johnsons quarry yesterday leanring about the stone and what they do to itt
I found it interesting about the stones and the machines.
We missed you, Jon! Hope you will be feeling better next week, it’s the first of the stone carving sessions –
The activity was good to learn and get an understanding of how tings work and what stages the stones go through.
It was very good to get out of college and experice the trip to see how living conditions where back then, and how things were built like housing itself. Also how they travelled, and what they used for direction and to know the distances and participated in the drystone walling and I enjoyed it very much. It was better than I expected.
You asked some great questions about the ownership of Shibden Hall and the costs of running it, Wincent –
found this project useful as i am doing brickwork aswell as the dry wall stoneing i found that useful and instresting also as we got to actually try out dry walling and got involed so we got too see what if would be like
There are other opportunities to do more dry stone walling with the Kirklees Countryside Volunteers, at weekends, if any of you would like to improve your skills !
Apart from weather it was really good, I really enjoyed it!
If you enjoyed your trip, Jerzy, the effort involved in organising it was worthwhile !!
Looking forward to our involvement in the project. (20 Kirklees College Full-time Brickwork Students) and me, their lecturer.
I hope the weather is kind and doesn’t rain too much for our day at Shibden Hall this Wednesday and all runs to plan.
The weather forecast is better than today’s, but I’m keeping my fingers firmly crossed… !!
Thanks for a great day and being so hospitable with our students.
Your students were great, Jason – a pleasure to work with !!
Totally Enjoyed It – Just a Doubt About The Weather!!
I thought the trip was really good and enjoyed doing the drystone walling.
it was good
I think the trip was good cause we did some drystone walling and looked round the site and enjoyed the trip.
Hooray !!
found this project useful as i am doing brickwork aswell as the dry wall stoneing i found that useful and instresting also as we got to actually try out dry walling and got involed so we got too see what if would be like
i enjoyed drystone walling
I really enjoyed the day out at shibdun park, it was very intresting and i gained loads of knowledge from the day out.
You knew a lot about ‘listed buildings’ too !
I think that the trip was good and understood what it was like back then. I did drystone walling which was enjoyable.
thanks for taking us it was very good and I learned a lot from the dry stone walling course.
It’s a pleasure, glad you enjoyed it, thanks, Callum!
thank for a good day out.
i really enjoyed the drystone walling even with the rain and wind
I’d really love to try drystone walling.
Our first event is the visit to Shibden Hall on 23rd October – to try drystone walling and explore our travel history !!
Really looking forward to this project :o)