My friend Rory Young, who has died aged 68 of adenocarcinoma, was a sculptor and building conservationist of exceptional sensitivity.
He was a leading exponent of the use of lime-based mortars and one of his early triumphs was the conservation and repair of the 16th-century merchant’s house, Law’s Close, in Kirkcaldy, Fife, during the 1980s. The colour, quality and texture of the lime-based repairs that he engineered there transformed a somewhat neglected-looking building.
In 1994 Rory was chosen to design and make the maquettes for the great west doorway of York Minster, celebrating the Bible story from the creation of the world. The myriad small scenes of human figures, carved in the Minster stoneyard, were interpreted in ways that were fresh and original, while paying homage to the past.
From 2015 onwards, Rory also created naturalistically coloured statues of modern martyrs for the seven empty niches of the medieval screen in St Albans Cathedral.
He was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, to Jill (nee Innocent) and Peter Young, who ran College Farm there. He was educated at Oakley Hall school, King’s College Taunton and Camberwell College of Art, London, graduating in fine art (painting) in 1976. He then travelled around England and Wales for almost a year on a period of self-directed study of local and regional building styles and techniques.
Aside from his work on various conservation projects, over the years Rory welcomed many William Morris Craft fellows and Lethaby scholars of William Morris’s Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to his home in Cirencester, where he shared his wisdom about the careful repair of old buildings. He was a natural teacher, vivid and compelling.
Rory was also a designer and letter-cutter of grave-markers, using his great empathy with people to produce monuments that were memorable and moving.
On being diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in 2022, he held a “carpe diem” party in a field in Gloucestershire, where nearly 300 of his friends gathered to celebrate his life.
Rory’s 1986 marriage to the sculptor Jane Rickards ended in divorce. He is survived by his sister Katrina.
