What do the Gargoyles in London mean?

Question

We pass them everyday and don;t really ask what they're doing. If you look at buildings in the city (not the glass ones) you'll notice gargoyles and weird statues of semi-humans or beasts on the roof or on the corners or somewhere just 'looking down at you'. I think this is the case even with newer buildings.

Is it simply some English 'tradition'? Or is it art? Or is there some historical/religious significance?

Answer 1

As rooster says above, gargoyles are waterspouts.

The word comes from an old French word for a throat: "gargouille" (the English word "gargle" comes from the same origin and may even have come about from people hearing the sound of rainwater bubbling down through gargoyles' spouts.)

Gargoyles are a tradition throughout western Europe -- they date from medieval times. They were never designed to ward off evil.

Medieval carvers often created gargoyles that were caricatures of public figures of the time, or even of their bosses... There are many on cathedrals which have the heads of a monk, or which are supposed to look like the local mayor of the time.

Often, though, they carved fantastical animals and monsters --unlike Victorian Gothic buildings which were designed by the architect down to the last detail -- as buildings are now -- medieval carvers were pretty free to carve what images they liked for the upper reaches and shadowy corners of these huge buildings.

=)

Answer 2

They are just art work on Victorian Gothic buildings, like the previous poster said, they are functional, rain water drains out of the gutters (gargoyal mouth).

Answer 3

Think they were originally supposed to ward off evil...

Answer 4

They are just pretty medieval things to drain water away from buildings.  Notice how the word gargoyle sounds like gargle as in gargling water.  It's because it comes from that Latin stem - a gullet to direct water away.  I think they're pretty and like to see them come alive s****. doo style.

Answer 5

I believe they served a more practical purpose. They functioned as drainpipes to channel rain water away from buildings. There's another kind, a chimera, which is purely ornamental.

Answer 6

As Eskimooi said.  

The purpose of gargoyles is to scare off evil spirits and Vanessa Feltz.