Coned in Scotland

The Duke of Wellington Statue in Glasgow invites pranks

November, 2007

Arthur Wellesley was the first Duke of Wellington and the commander of the British forces that defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The Irish-born Wellesley eventually rose to the rank of field marshal and later became Britain's Prime Minister. In his memory, a statue was erected in 1844 on Queen Street in Glasgow, Scotland.

But nowadays, despite his legacy, people who visit often find it difficult to look at the statue without smirking. Maybe that's because the Duke of Wellington is usually graced with various traffic cones. The day I was there, the statue's head was crowned with a florescent orange cone while a neon yellow one sat jauntily upon the head of his horse. These absurdly placed cones baffled me.

At first glance, I thought the cones were placed there as a prank. Then again, since it was in front of Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), I thought it could be some sort of surreal installation that the museum had created. But when the cones had been taken down a few hours later, I had no idea what to think.

Andy, a Glasgow native and the chef of a restaurant near the statue, said that for the past 20 years or so, it has been the focal point of late night pranksters who climb the 160-year-old statue to top it with traffic cones. Often taken down by authorities, Andy has confessed to putting them back up after a "couple of drinks" on his way home.(For obvious reasons Andy asked that his last name not be used in this article.)

Locals believe that the cones represent the city's sense of humor and ability to not take authority too seriously. The cones on the statue have become an essential part of Glasgow's scenery.

"[It] used to be a weekend prank... then more people joined in and it became an all-year-round game," Andy said.

While cones are the most common item to be placed on the Duke, many other objects have found their way onto the statue such as football scarves and top hats.

Eventually, artists began to print pictures and t-shirts of the coned statue. And then the GOMA opened about ten years ago and focused attention to it in front of their building. Since then, the Duke and its coning has become an important part of Glasgow and a very popular pastime.

"From then on the rest is history," Andy said.

Even though the prank has become embedded into Glasgow's culture, the cones are often removed on the order of the city council and the police. On many mornings a high powered water jet is used to knock them off.

While locals argue that the cones are an integral part of the statue as well as the city's identity, no one seems to mind that the Duke of Wellington no longer wears spurs and is missing half of his sword due to people continuously climbing up it for so many years.

"It is a bit of a punt up onto the plinth of the statue but once you are up, it is life size so it's just like mounting a horse there after," Andy said.

The Glasgow City Council has repeatedly reminded the public that a fall from the nearly 20-foot statue could be very harmful. In an interview with BBC Scotland, the spokesman for the council said, "The message we would send to people thinking about climbing on the Duke of Wellington is 'don't do it - please'."

Andy himself has never fallen while climbing the statue, but there are plenty who have. Over the years he said that he has seen the paramedics take care of injured climbers more than a few times.

The police have also issued many warnings over the years that declared that anyone found defacing the statue or climbing for the purpose of vandalizing it could face criminal charges.

But because the public has continued to ignore these warnings, Constable Chris Hainey of the Glasgow Police has made a compromise. He said if someone is caught putting cones on the Duke, they would only be warned and told to move on.

And even though the authorities have tried to put a stop to the free spirits of Glasgow, I know that there will always be a Scottish prankster, like Andy, to give the Duke back his bizarre crown.

Originally Published At:

The Prague Wanderer