Gargoyles: From stone-cold brutes to pop-culture heroes
Gargoyles are among the most distinctive features of castles. As Sky HISTORY’s Great British Castle Rescue airs, we ask what purposes these statues served.
Image: A gargoyle on the outside of Chester Cathedral | Nigel Jarvis / Shutterstock.com
For a history buff, there can be few things more exciting than exploring a castle. There are so many different parts of it to see up close, from the keep to the battlements and the turrets.
It’s why Sky HISTORY are excited for our upcoming series, Great British Castle Rescue. The series sees presenter Rick Edwards follow concerted efforts to restore crumbling castles across the UK for future generations to enjoy. Great British Castle Rescue starts Monday, 9th March at 9pm on Sky HISTORY and HISTORY Play.
Some elements of a castle aren’t so easy to see up close, but reward the observant. For example, have you ever wondered why some castles feature stone gargoyles? These statues have certainly piqued our interest here at Sky HISTORY.
Spotted a gargoyle recently?
There’s a good chance that you have if you love spending extended periods of time around castles on your travels. Windsor Castle down south, Stirling Castle in Scotland and Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland are all examples of British castles guarded by these stone sentinels.
Gargoyles also appear on churches and cathedrals. The best-known gargoyles worldwide include those on Notre-Dame in Paris and Washington National Cathedral in the United States.
What is a gargoyle even meant to be, anyway?
The stone gargoyles on castles, churches and cathedrals are actually water drainage systems. That’s why you see them attached to roofs. Gargoyle-like structures installed just for decoration, without the water-draining component, are known simply as ‘grotesques’.
The idea is that rainwater pouring onto the building will subsequently be channelled towards the gargoyles. From there, the water will flow out of the statues’ gaping mouths – and away from the building’s vulnerable mortar and foundations.
In essence, then, gargoyles served the same purpose as the humble downpipe today. If your home didn’t have a downpipe, rainwater could too easily seep into your walls and damage them, lumbering you with a hefty repair bill.
When were gargoyles first created?
It’s thought that gargoyles (or at least similar structures) have been around for more than two thousand years. However, it’s tricky to trace the precise origin of gargoyles.
One reason why is that there is no specific, uniform idea of what a gargoyle is supposed to look like. Often, gargoyles depict grotesque, fantastical creatures – some combining elements of various known animals (such gargoyles are known as ‘chimeras’). Others, though, resemble humans.
What other purposes did gargoyles serve?
Gargoyles are obviously pretty elaborate compared to modern drainage systems. So, it’s assumed that they must have served further purposes.
We can’t be certain exactly what those purposes were, as no-one from the Medieval period appears to have left any written record of them. Still, scholars have put forward several compelling theories.
Those gargoyles with especially menacing faces might seem like the Medieval equivalent of guard dogs (some are even literally depicted as dogs). Indeed, one common theory about gargoyles is that they were intended to ward off evil spirits.
On the other hand, perhaps the gargoyles themselves were meant to represent the sinful. The seemingly tortured facial expressions could have been sculpted to warn onlookers of what awaited them in the afterlife if they failed to live piously.
Why did gargoyles go out of fashion?
Gargoyles’ spouts jutted out quite far, ensuring that the water would be deposited well away from the building’s walls. However, this would have inevitably left the gargoyles themselves highly exposed to the elements.
When gargoyles did incur serious damage, they can’t have been easy or inexpensive to repair. This all likely helps to explain why in the early 18th century, the practice of adding gargoyles to buildings largely subsided.
These days, new buildings, even religious ones, are customarily fitted with utilitarian downpipes rather than intricately carved gargoyles. When new gargoyles are erected, it is usually more for aesthetic than practical reasons.
Gargoyles in popular culture
Ironically, one British castle known for its gargoyles never technically existed. It’s Castle Wyvern, the fictional Scottish castle featured in the Disney animated series Gargoyles, which ran from 1994 to 1997.
The series did a lot to transform the common perception of gargoyles from devilish creatures to heroic warriors. However, popular culture has made its presence felt in modern grotesques, too.
One gargoyle erected at Paisley Abbey in Scotland in the 1990s purposefully resembles the iconic Xenomorph from the Alien sci-fi horror film franchise. Meanwhile, Washington’s National Cathedral has a grotesque designed to look like Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
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