Shibden Hall was home to Anne Lister (1791-1840), the diarist, industrialist and landowner whose life inspired the BBC-HBO TV series Gentleman Jack.
The monument to Anne Lister is being built by six members of the Women’s International Stone Alliance (WISA), led by Anglo-Australian Emma Knowles, who was born and grew up in East Yorkshire. The stone specialists from Italy, Ireland, the UK and USA are creating three monoliths connected by dry stone walls, complete with carvings.
The monument will be created using 10 tonnes of stone for the three monoliths, coping stones and carving stone donated by Wakefield-based Traditional Stone, plus 10 tonnes of building stone for the dry stone walls donated by Simon Lumb. Calderdale Council is supporting the project by transporting the stone to Shibden Hall and preparing the site.
The monument is designed by master craftsman David Griffiths.
Project leader Emma Knowles said: “There are so few women working in the stone industry and this is why we want to do everything we can to encourage more to get involved and support them through our network. We are thrilled to have been invited to create the new monument at Shibden Hall to celebrate Anne Lister, who wasn’t afraid to challenge convention and show that women can excel in male-dominated professions. And a big thank you to David Griffiths, Calderdale Council, Simon Lumb and Traditional Stone – without their support we would never have been able to build this unique monument.”
Traditional Stone general manager Emma Hudson added: “This is a tremendous project to be involved with and we are delighted to donate the raw materials that WISA team need to create this unique monument. It is so important to encourage women and girls to get into the natural stone trades and hopefully more will be inspired to explore a career path and seek training in our sector when they see the skill and creativity on show at Shibden Hall.”
The stone specialists will complete most of the monument and wall construction during the back end of August and the first week of September, with an official unveiling set to take place around 10th September.
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