Taking a place in history

During July in a small studio in Oxfordshire, the final chips of stone were carved on nine new grotesques, commonly known as gargoyles, which today proudly adorn the north-west side of the Bodleian Library. These gargoyles were the result of the ‘Design a Gargoyle’ competition launched by the University in 2007 as part of the inaugural Oxford Open Doors heritage weekend.

The competition, which took as its theme ‘Millennium Myths and Monsters’, invited Oxfordshire schoolchildren aged 8–18 to design a gargoyle based on one of three themes – myths, monsters or people with a connection to Oxfordshire history. The nine winners, selected from more than 500 entries, had their designs interpreted by local stone carvers and transformed into real gargoyles, which now look out over Broad Street.

The idea came about after restoration work on the library’s roof revealed a row of gargoyles whose faces had been completely eroded. With no records showing what the sculptures looked like originally, the University decided to draw on children’s vivid imaginations to design their replacements. At the same time, the competition encouraged local children to find out more about the history of the county in which they live.

Gargoyles, which spout water, and grotesques, their non-spouting counterparts, are most commonly associated with the medieval church and were believed to scare away evil spirits. In Oxford, dragons, demons and dons are among those overlooking the city. But several of the new faces on the Bodleian are both funnier and friendlier than their predecessors.

Ben Bryant (aged 13) designed a wild boar with a book in its mouth. He got the idea from the legend that a student of The Queen’s College was wandering in the forest reading Aristotle, when he was attacked by a wild boar. In order to save himself, he resourcefully rammed his book down the boar’s throat, causing it to choke to death.

George O’Connor’s (aged 11) design was of a dodo, ironically holding a copy of the Origin of Species in its beak. ‘It will be great showing it to my own kids one day and knowing there is a piece of me in the Bodleian Library’, he said. Eve Masmanian (aged 13) based her design on Tweedledum and Tweedledee. ‘I’d really like people to walk by and see them there and maybe laugh’, she said. Henry Chadwick (aged 12) designed ‘three men in a boat’, after the humorous story by Jerome K Jerome. ‘Oxford wouldn’t be here if the Thames wasn’t’, he pointed out.

Other winners included Alfie Turner (aged 13) for Sir Thomas Bodley, the founder of the library; Hannah Duckworth (aged 12) for Green Man; Hayley Williams (aged 14) for Aslan the Lion; Kerrie Chambers (aged 14) for General Pitt Rivers; and Alex Sermon (aged 14) for J R R Tolkien.

The winning designs were turned into finished grotesques by sculptors Alec and Fiona Peever from Ducklington, Oxfordshire. The winners spent a day working with the sculptors to see how the process worked. They tried their hands at clay modelling, experimenting with different techniques and creating group artworks.

The project presented the sculptors with particular challenges. Fiona explained how she took the sketchy drawings, made them into models and then carved them into three-dimensional figures that could be easily interpreted from a distance. ‘In particular, it’s to do with the foreshortening and the perspective of the figures from a distance, and the way the shadows work, in order to make a strength of design that can be understood by viewers 30 feet below.’

‘The nature of stone does not allow for error’, she added. ‘One must plan the design in advance and be confident to carve freely without any lapse of concentration. We are pleased that there were no mishaps!’ Each grotesque took two to three weeks to make.

The finished works were unveiled by Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, in a special ceremony held on 12 September at the Bodleian Library. ‘Gargoyles and grotesques are always a cause of great delight, and the Oxford ones are best of all’, he said. ‘Oxford gargoyles have a long and proud tradition of rudeness, mischief and disobedience.’

The unveiling marked the start of the annual Oxford Open Doors weekend organised by the Oxford Preservation Trust. Director, Debbie Dance, and one of the judges of the competition, said: ‘The grotesques project is a tangible demonstration of the University’s commitment to the wider Oxford community, as is their support for the open weekend. Oxford Open Doors offers free access to many buildings and places across town and gown which are not usually open to the public.’

The competition was organised by Oxford University in conjunction with the Oxford Preservation Trust. The other judges were Dr Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian; Martin Jennings, sculptor, whose statue of John Betjeman was recently unveiled at St Pancras Station, London; and Isobel Hughes, Head of Building Conservation within the University’s Estates Directorate.

‘The grotesques will stare out over Oxford for hundreds of years’, commented Ms Hughes ‘I hope the winners will be able to revisit their stone carvings many times, bringing their children and their grandchildren to see them too.’