A Grotesque Story by Vivien Teasdale

I wonder how many of us wander around a town without ever really looking at the buildings? We look in shop windows, perhaps notice if the door is easy to open or not, but do we ever bother with the skyline? With the shapes of the roofs, the style of the windows or even what the buildings were made of?

Try it. Look up and see what is under the eaves. If you look closely, you might even spot a few grotesques or even a gargoyle glaring down at you. What’s the difference? Well, the terms tend to be used interchangeably these days, but technically a gargoyle is a grotesque, but a grotesque is not necessarily a gargoyle.

From Ely Cathedral

Grotesques were named after the strange heads found in the underground or buried ruins of Roman buildings known as Grottes. They often are in the form of animals, real or imaginary, such as lion heads or dragons. Others show human heads, such as monks, or possibly to honour the person paying for the building, though many seem to have a very different purpose.

The humans depicted could be pulling faces at you. You could try copying them if you wish; find your inner child and stick your tongue out. Others may be portrayed in more ill-bred postures – do not imitate these, at least not in public or you’ll probably find yourself in court.

The reasons behind these images are still being debated. The grotesques are thought to be there to guard the building against evil spirits by frightening them away. They could also be showing the sort of behaviour which, if you do indulge in ‘that sort of thing,’ could be your ticket to Hell. In medieval times, few ordinary people could read so images or carvings on walls were a way to push home the message.

When you’ve finished trying to find grotesques, turn your attention to gargoyles, they’re much easier to spot.

The term ‘gargoyle’ derives from a French word meaning ‘gullet’ or ‘throat’. Going back further is its Latin origin referring to the gurgling sound of running water. The Italians and, of course the Germans, have different words: gronda sporgente (protruding gutter) and Wasserspeier (water spout or spear), which are more accurate but less romantic. Just look up at the top of the building, and the fancy spout is probably a gargoyle. Have a look at Lindley Clock Tower – there are four of them there. Just don’t stand too close on a rainy day.

From Ely Cathedral

So where do you begin? Churches or old buildings, especially in the Gothic styles, will usually have some. The older grotesques are often badly weathered, so it’s not always easy to make out the image. They are much more individual since they would have been formed one at a time by a master sculptor. From the Victorian era onwards, you will find mass produced grotesques, though these may have been based on existing grotesques from earlier periods.

Towns or cities which have a large number of grotesques or particularly famous ones, usually have a guide to them. Buxton has a booklet describing two walks around the town to find just some of their approximately 200 grotesques. There are books printed about Oxford’s one thousand or more grotesques and also walking tours with a guide to explain them. And Huddersfield has the Ramsden Estate Office, opposite the railways station. Very ornate, the walls are adorned with a mass of carved fauna and foliage. And somewhere in there, if you look closely, you will find an image of a man’s naked backside. Beware of traffic while you are looking for it – and please let us know where it is, if you find it.

As writers, any or all of these images could (or perhaps, should) spark our imagination. What is that dragon doing up there? Is she suddenly going to launch into the sky and destroy the town? Or save it from unknown menace? Just what was the mason thinking when they carved ‘those’ images? A very small percentage of medieval masons were women, though many more worked as labourers on the site. What did they think of the carvings? Was it from their own brain or were they just following orders? What was it like to be on an ancient, a medieval, a Victorian building site? What stories could the grotesques tell?

But what is the point of gawping at all this imagery? Well, they are all fearsome, fantastic or funny. Isn’t that enough?