Stones in their pockets

Cork 2005: The Gargoyle, Danny Melt, Facemould, Blueskull, the Goban: these are the "stonies", stone-carvers or men of the Dust immortalised in the late Seamus Murphy's book Stone Mad.

First published in 1966 by Routledge and Kegan Paul and later reissued by Blackstaff, this classic of an almost-forgotten craft has just now been brought out by Collins Press, complete with illustrations by William Harrington and with initial letters by Murphy himself. While the stonies travelled all over the country, some being journeymen, some employed in yards which sent them on commissions elsewhere, Seamus Murphy moved on from this fellowship to become a sculptor, exhibiting in the RHA every year from 1931 until his death in 1975.