Grotesque, Battle Abbey

The abbey’s buildings would have been decorated both inside and out with sculpted stone ornament, often consisting of fantastical or grotesque faces. Their purpose is not entirely clear, but the latest thinking is that they may symbolise the division between the human world and the divine.

This particular grotesque was stolen by a child decades before English Heritage took over the site in 1976. He kept it and took it with him when he emigrated to Australia. As an old man he recently sent it back to us, restoring a lovely example of the abbey’s decoration to its original home.