The measurement of residual stress distribution in an uncoated glass optical fibre is considered to be important as it affects critical fibre parameters such as refractive index, intrinsic polarization mode dispersion, mode field diameter and dispersion. The optical polarimetric method is a well-established technique to measure the residual stress of an optical material. This technical report describes a transverse polarimetric method to measure the residual stress profile of any type of optical fibre. The principle and detailed procedure for measuring the optical transverse stress profile of a fibre, which is cylindrically symmetric, is described in detail. It is based on a polariscope, which is constructed with a fixed polarizer, a quarter-wave plate and an analyzer. An optical tomographic technique is also described for measuring the stress profile of a fibre with a cylindrically non-symmetric structure.