How we chose
We began with the eight stonemasonry names serving Telford that surfaced from map listings, business directories and trade sources, then matched each against its own website for services, areas and terms. Scheme claims were sourced from the NAMM and BRAMM registers, each firm's own site and review platforms [5] [7]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and easy to reach, and anything demanded by law is in place. Seven firms met all three, and one did not, so seven appear in the table. We looked first at what customers say, since beyond a small handful of reviews volume adds nothing further. Scheme membership on record counts next, then length of trading history and stated cover, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence behind this round is dated 4 September 2026.
How to hire
Start by matching the mason to the job. A memorial mason designs, letters, fixes and renovates headstones and tablets; a general stonemason repairs stone buildings, walls, cills and garden features. Most hires in Telford are memorial work, which falls into two jobs: a new memorial after a burial or cremation, and work to an existing stone such as an additional inscription, re-lettering, cleaning or re-fixing. Say which of the two you need in your first message, and name the cemetery or churchyard from the outset.
For the three council cemeteries at Wellington, Wombridge and Castle Green, the rules are set by Telford & Wrekin Council and they bite early [1]. Only masons holding the council's industry specialist licence may install headstones, add inscriptions, repair gilding or lettering, carry out structural repairs or deep-clean with controlled chemicals in those grounds [1]. To hold the licence a mason must show current public liability and employers' liability cover plus current NAMM or BRAMM membership, and renew it every year [2]. Permission to erect a memorial can only go to the owner of the Right of Burial, or to someone holding the owner's written authority, and each application needs a sketch design with dimensions signed by that owner [1] [2]. Tell the mason the plot type before you fall in love with a design: lawn graves and traditional kerb-set graves carry different size limits, and anything oversized is refused [4]. Stones put up without permission may be removed and the removal charged for [1].
Churchyards play by different rules. Telford parishes sit in the Diocese of Lichfield, whose 2026 churchyard memorial regulations set the stone types, sizes and inscriptions each incumbent may permit without a faculty [8]. The parish uses a standard application form, and the form carries a signed statement by the memorial mason that the stone complies with the regulations [8]. Anything outside the regulations needs a faculty from the diocese, which takes longer and costs more, and some parishes add their own churchyard policy on top. If the grave is in a churchyard, ask the mason at the first meeting whether your design sits inside the regulations or needs a faculty.
Some Telford jobs are not memorials at all. Older stone property around Ironbridge, Broseley and Madeley, and stone garden walls, cills and lintels across Wellington, Dawley, Lawley and the villages, call for a mason who repairs rather than memorialises. Such work should match the existing stone and mortar, and where the building is listed or stands in a conservation area the council's planning team confirms whether consent is needed before work starts. Two firms in this round sell themselves on building stonework: Midland Masonry for conservation repairs to churches and estates, and Arcadian Restoration for lime, stone and damp work on period homes. For a wall or a facade, match the firm to the job and look for local examples you can visit.
Check the mason before you commit. Type the business name into the NAMM retail member map and the BRAMM mason search to see what is on record there [5] [7]. For council cemetery work, read the council's permitted-stonemasons list and confirm your mason appears on it [1]. Visit the showroom if you can: Broseley Memorials and Williams Memorials both keep showrooms you can walk into, while Memorial Arts works from a craft-centre workshop with set visiting hours. Fixing standards sit behind all of this: the NAMM Code of Working Practice, which underpins the British Standard for memorial fixing, is the benchmark a competent fixing should meet [12].
A typical memorial job runs in a clear order. You send the cemetery or churchyard name, the plot type and what you have in mind, then visit the showroom or workshop to settle the stone, the shape and the wording. The mason prepares the sketch design and seeks the burial ground permission, with the grave owner's signature where the council requires it [2]. Then comes waiting: the council notes you may need to wait a while after the funeral before a headstone goes up, while ground settles [4]. Fixing day itself is quick, and a competent mason anchors the stone to the recognised standard and leaves you the paperwork [6].
Insist that the quote separates every element: the stone type and dimensions, the lettering method and how many letters are included, the finish, any artwork or photo plaque, the foundation and fixing method, installation, the burial ground permission fee as its own line, the VAT position and the timescale. Two or three quotes on the same written scope let you compare properly. A deposit for the stone is normal practice; full payment before the memorial is fixed is not. Treat an estimate given before an initial discussion as provisional, which is exactly how Memorial Arts frames its own starting guide.
At sign-off, collect the itemised receipt, the written guarantee for the memorial and its fixing, and a record of the inscription as carved. Keep these with the Deed of Grant for the grave, since the grave owner remains responsible for the memorial's upkeep and the council inspects stones for safety, making safe any that become unstable [1]. The council also suggests insuring the memorial itself, and your mason can usually arrange suitable cover [1]. If anything about the finished stone disappoints you, raise it with the mason first: NAMM members answer to the association's conciliation and arbitration service, and any business response we receive is printed alongside our assessment [12].
Pricing
As of spring 2026, UK market guides put a standard new upright memorial at roughly £500 to £3,000 or more, with standard granite around £800 to £2,000 and most families spending between £1,000 and £2,500 including installation [10]. Material sets the band: slate and hardwood sit lower, marble and Portland stone sit higher, and large bespoke granite pieces with kerbs, portraits or extensive artwork run past £2,000 [10]. Telford usually lands below London and South East prices [10].
One-off sculptural work costs more. Memorial Arts publishes a starting guide of around £3,000 for its bespoke commissions. A May 2026 worked example from a monumental mason elsewhere in England shows why: a simple Karin Grey granite headstone with base came to £1,276 to supply and fix, plus £116 for a short inscription and £179 for the churchyard fee, giving £1,571 all in, while the same design in slate reached £6,293 because the stone is rarer, the piece must be larger and the lettering has to be hand-carved [11].
Work to an existing stone is cheaper. Re-lettering, re-gilding and professional cleaning are usually day-rate jobs: a 2024 trade guide puts general stonemason day rates at £250 to £350, or £31 to £44 by the hour [9]. On top of the mason's charge sits the council's own permission fee for an added inscription, £155 as of the 2026/27 scale [3]. Grave-tending plans, for families who want the plot kept, are one Telford price published in full: Williams Memorials lists plans at £39, £125 and £275 including VAT.
Burial ground fees always sit outside the mason's price. As of the 2026/27 Telford & Wrekin scale, permission to erect a headstone tablet on a lawn or traditional grave is £325, a small headstone in a garden of remembrance or on a baby or child's grave is £250, a vase permission is £135, and an added inscription is £155, all with no VAT added [3]. What moves the mason's own price is the scarcity of the stone, the size and complexity of the shape, the lettering method — gold leaf costs more than paint but lasts longer — plus artwork, access for fixing and whether old material is taken away [11].
VAT and paperwork deserve their own questions. Council permission fees carry no VAT, while at least one Telford mason states its grave-tending prices inclusive of VAT, so ask each mason where VAT lands on your quote [3]. Get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope, each one separating stone, lettering, artwork, fixing, installation, fees and VAT, with payment stages and the timescale agreed before the stone is ordered. Keep every quote, receipt, guarantee and permission together with the grave deed.
Red flags
Offers to fit or inscribe a memorial in a council cemetery without holding the council's annual licence [2].
Prices the stone before asking which cemetery or churchyard it is going into.
Starts cutting before the grave owner's signed permission is in place [1].
Gives a single fixed figure with no split between stone, lettering, fixing, fees and VAT.
Requests full payment in cash before ordering the stone.
Shows no sample of the stone and will not confirm the material in the quote.
Promises a new headstone within days of the burial, with no mention of settlement time [4].
Cannot produce current public liability cover when requested [2].
Adds lettering to an existing memorial without seeking the burial authority's permission [1].
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.