Pricking iron (7)

Pricking iron or chisel used by a stonemason.  It has a wide flat serrated blade or comb piece fitted into a long squared shaft with chamferred corners.  There is a square hole in the shaft so that the blade could be pushed out and replaced.  The end of the chisel shows little sign of wear.   Stone was worked using a range of tools including saws and chisels.  Stone mason's tools have changed very little over the centuries.  Finer shaping and detail was worked by striking chisels like this with a large wooden mallet.