Gargoyles occupy an increasingly prominent cultural position, constantly being used for atmospheric effect in movies and synonymous with the sinister and the Gothic. Technically, they are architectural features designed to throw rainwater clear of the walls of a building; widely used on medieval churches, they were often richly decorated and fashioned as serpents' heads and grotesque demons. Today, the term gargoyle is also popularly applied to any carved decorative head or creature high up on a building, and this book is an exploration of all of these enchanting features. Written by an academic and stonecarver, it is the perfect introduction to this fascinating subject from the medieval period to the modern.
