The mystery of the decaying "Emperor Heads"
The imposing emperor heads which guard the entrance to the Sheldonian Theatre are in fact the third set of heads, the first set commissioned by Wadham alumnus Sir Christopher Wren and carved by William Byrd in the 1660s.
Researcher Scott Allan Orr, from the School of Geography and the Environment, spearheaded a mission to track down as many of the first and second-generation emperor heads as possible.
The first set, erected on stone plinths in 1669 endured for 200 years and an example of the heads can be found in Wadham’s Fellows’ garden. Their replacements, erected in the 1860s, lasted for half the time and were described by John Betjeman as “the mouldering busts round the Sheldonian”. In 1972, they were replaced by the existing carvings, sculpted by Michael Black.
“We are trying to establish whether they were carved from an inferior stone, or whether the fact that they were installed at the height of the Industrial Revloution made a difference. It is strange that the first generation heads have weathered so much better,” said Scott, whose research explores built heritage as complex chemical systems in order to understand physical change in response to environmental change.
The application of neutron techinques to material science problems is a new approach explained Wadham’s Andrew Princep, who conducts his research at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. ISIS uses neutrons to investigate objects in a non-destructive fashion. Neutrons are a powerful probe of materials because they are electrically neutral and can penetrate deep inside a sample without causing damage. Core samples were extracted from three of the second-generation Sheldonian heads, and have been undergoing a variety of tests designed to solve the weathering mystery.
Primary researchers and departments involved: Heather Viles, Katrin Wilhelm, Andrew Princep, Scott Allan Orr, Lucie Fusade, School of Geography, MPLS, STFC
Information from Wadham College
