Caius beefs up gargoyles to beat Cambridge weather

  • 04 October 2015

They may be mythical beasts, but a flock of new gargoyles on the roof of Gonville & Caius College are well and truly corporeal. In an attempt to ensure the replacement stone creatures survive the weathering that occasionally made their skinny predecessors fly unexpectedly to earth, the College has installed “beefed up” gargoyles equipped to withstand the unforgiving Cambridge climate.

The nine newly-carved gryphons and other beasts projecting from the walls of Caius’ statuesque Waterhouse Building – which is approaching the end of a 10-phase, 11-year reroofing and restoration project – are, to put it tactfully, a touch bigger-boned than the corroded Victorian originals alongside. In line with good restoration practice, the winged creatures follow as closely as possible the design of those they replace, but the girth worn away by the Fenland winds and the effects of pollution has been reintroduced – plus a touch more for extra resilience.

“The decision was taken to make them a little bit chunkier,” says stone carver Michelle Brown, whose mallet and chisel have given life to all nine new gargoyles at Caius. “They’ve been fleshed out: there’s more meat on the wings.” But, she adds, there is categorically no twenty-first century gargoyle obesity crisis. “The ones that have been there for over a hundred years are a bit “Weight Watchers” because they’ve corroded and worn away. The new ones are reinstating what was there originally, with a little bit more to help with strength.”

Tourists visiting the 667-year old college won’t notice the difference, says Andy Brown, director of restoration contractors Brown & Ralph. “We decided to bulk the beasts up to make them more robust. It doesn’t affect the look of them at all from below. But up close the new ones are bulkier and stronger - there’s about 10-15% extra volume”.

The last two snarling creatures, each weighing 250 kilos, have just been hoisted into place at Caius, completing a programme replacing the missing gargoyles and repairing and securing the remaining 28. The beasts, which originally acted as waterspouts to channel rainwater away from the walls of the 1870s building, project some three feet out over Trinity Street and Senate House Passage on one side and over Tree Court within the college on the other. At some 40 feet above the ground, the striking line-up is missed by many hurrying through the street below, but at dusk their stark silhouettes stand guard over the College’s famous Gate of Humility.

The Caius beasts – genuine gargoyles since they were designed as waterspouts, as opposed to their purely decorative cousins known merely as grotesques – have not always been so content on their perches. In the 1970s, one weathered creature became so spindly it crashed to the pavement, missing Caius Law Fellow Michael Prichard by three feet. “I remember the event vividly,” Prichard recalls. “I was then a member of the College Council, hence my jocular comment to other Fellows later that I instinctively looked up to see which member of the Council had been on the roof at the time.”

After the incident, the remaining crumbling gargoyles were removed, others were secured with internal rods, and gaps remained in the line-up until the current restoration programme, overseen by Caius domestic bursar Alan Jermy. As well as repairing the Westmorland slate roof, damaged leadwork and stonework and 20-ton chimneys of the Loire Chateau-inspired Waterhouse Building, the intricate project has seen the lost gargoyles restored as authentically as possible. "We used old photographs from the College archives to try to match the new versions as precisely as possible," Jermy said. "The aim of the project is to make the building complete."

The new beasts, each different and with elements of dragons, lions and gryphons, are made of Clipsham limestone, a substance so strong sparks fly from the stonegrinder as Brown cuts a block to size for carving. She has sought to work an alchemy, staying faithful to the design of the original carver and maintaining the identical key dimensions of each gargoyle while still ensuring the modern-day beasts are more solid than their crumbly forebears. “Though the length and width are the same, you can leave a bit more flesh on their bones. At weak points such as their ankles and neck you just don’t take as much out.”

The Fenland winds and city grime weather stone carving “frighteningly quickly”, said Brown, who has worked on Kings College Chapel, Ely Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. “The Victorian ones have lost their definition and mass. The new ones are a little chunkier to help with strength – they’re like chunky chips.”

Brown built up a close relationship with her gargoyles, giving them names such as Colin and Sue and carving them in pairs or threes to allow them to “talk to each other and create a synergy between them”. Entering her workshop in the morning, she liked to see them “before they saw me”, to appraise them with fresh eyes.

Using a mallet and chisel and taking some three or four weeks for each beast, she aimed to “find” each one in its block of stone. “There’s a moment they come to life. For me, it’s to do with when I carve the face and feet – I love carving claws and toes.”

Once her gargoyles are winched up by block and tackle and locked into place on the College wall, Brown no longer wants to look. “I hate it once they’re fixed – I have to just let them go.”

Brown’s plump gargoyles will be her last: stonemasonry places huge physical demands on the body. The Caius gargoyles, however, will stand as testament to her skills, and those of the Victorian mason whose chisel marks she retraced.

 

* Contact: Lucy Ward, Communications Officer, Gonville & Caius: news@cai.cam.ac.uk

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