Studio: international art (28.1903)

Weather- Vanes

Their possessions let them share

With the poor and needy;
And to grief, distress, and want
Let their help be speedy.

Translated. W. H. Ward.
Tan. 1903.

With regard to gilt and
copper cocks, it is interesting
to read that in the year 1444
" The spire of the old St.
Paul's Cathedral was by
Bishop Kemp adorned with a
copper weather-cock, then a

novel inventiofi." /^5gg?

be found in the Spalding Club,
Aberdeen Burgh Records.
"16 April 1606. David
Anderstone maister of Kirk
Wark to send brazen cok
of the Stepill of Sanct Nicolas
Parish Kirk this burght of
Flanderis to be mendit thair
and owergilt — and to be

Another quaint record is to ^ ft f fAf fcnEOj f P

found in the Spalding Club, ¥Y=J V W^Ww

weather-vane designed by o. maxwell ayrton

erectit and set vp vpon the hicht of the said
stepill."

As the weather-cock is the usual form of vane to
the church spire or steeple, so one finds hundreds
of instances of the ship vane on public buildings
all over the country. One of the finest vanes of this
description is undoubtedly the ship which floats
over the Guild Hall at Rochester; with her mizzen
set, she rides there perfectly balanced on the heavy
turned standard under her. Some seven feet long
over all, she is like the cock of St. Nicholas "ower-
gilt." The gilding weathered in some places to the
most magnificent crimsons and purples, she is in
absolute harmony with the beautiful old building
beneath. Dated 1687, and ascribed to Sir
Christopher Wren, or one of his pupils, the whole
building is certainly worthy of that great master.

Among other notable examples must be men-
tioned the Dragon on St. Mary-le-Bow, also by
Sir Christopher Wren; the Grasshopper on the Corn
Exchange—this giant measures eleven feet over all;
and the splendid dial-working vane in the King's
Gallery at Kensington Palace, where the flag-shaped

weather-vane, guildhall, rochester

from a drawing by o. maxwell ayrton vane without, records on the gilt-banded map

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