In the more than seven years that I spent at Aston I never noticed that, between the windows of Big School, the gym, and Room 17 there are as many as twenty three gargoyles. There should, and may, be a twenty fourth, but I can't see it now that I have raised my eyes Heavenward to look at them!

So it should come as no surprise to learn that I don't know the identity of any of them. More surprising, I can find no information about them in the school's archives. This is one of 'Aston's little mysteries' that I describe in my 'History of Aston' talks. In January 2011 I dutifully photographed them all:

A East wing no. 1*	B East wing no. 2 & 8 West wing no. 2 & 6	C East wing no. 3 & 9 West wing no. 3 &11	D East wing no. 4 & 10 West wing no. 5 & 8	E East wing no. 5 West wing no. 9	F East wing no. 6 &12 West wing no. 4 &10	G East wing no. 7 & 11 West wing no. 7 &12

I reckon gargoyle G is William Shakespeare, and B might be King Edward VI, F could be Geoffrey Chaucer (if Google Images is to be believed!) and I think A and E might be the same person.

Liam Gasior (Aston 1999) suggests C might be Isaac Newton, and Gary Fisher (2005), one of the Student Archivists, thinks A/E could be Sir Walter Raleigh.

Your thoughts on any of these would be most welcome!

* The numbering of individual gargoyles is from North to South, i.e. from Frederick Road towards Albert Road.

Last updated March 2011