Several people have asked me about who was responsible for the stone carving on my Christmas card:-

The answer is not straightforward (I have been helped by Sandy Nairne).

Thomas Strong and Joshua Marshall were recruited by Christopher Wren as the mason-contactors for the construction of St. Paul’s. Thomas laid its foundation stone on 21 June 1675. By 1678, there were thirty-five masons at work according to the records of the masons’ company. Thomas Strong is recorded as having made a lot of money ‘in doing work in Rebuilding the City and in selling stone to others’. Thomas Strong died ‘about Midsumer 1681’ at which point his business was taken over by his younger brother Edward.

So, the stone carving is likely to have been undertaken by one of the masons employed by the Strongs – anonymous but highly skilled:-