Why Glasgow’s Duke of Wellington statue was allowed to keep his cone

Why Glasgow’s Duke of Wellington statue was allowed to keep his cone In 2013, the council proposed a scheme to double the height of the plinth in order to deter intrepid cone fan

Edinburgh has the Castle. London has Big Ben. And Glasgow? Well, Glasgow has a statue with a traffic cone on its head.

There are few more iconic images of Glasgow than that of the Duke of Wellington on horseback, with a bright orange cone perched neatly on his head.

In 2011 the ‘Coneheid’ statue was named by Lonely Planet as one of the top ten most bizarre monuments on Earth, but why is it such an important symbol of Glasgow and its people?

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Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was best known for defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo (as well as giving his name to the wellington boot) and statues honouring this military hero can be found all across Britain.

The Glasgow version was designed by Italian sculptor Carlo Marochetti and was erected in 1844.

For the best part of 140 years, the statue stood on Royal Exchange Square without much fanfare.

That all changed in the early 1980s, when a traffic cone mysteriously started appearing on top of the Duke of Wellington’s head.

The origins of this practice are murky, but the most widely held belief is that a brave, drunk student scaled the statue after a night out in order to adorn the Duke with his new accessory.

Despite attempts at removal by Glasgow City Council, the cone has remained for over 30 years. Whenever a cone is removed, it is only a matter of days before a new one appears in its place.

As this tribute to Wellington is an A-listed statue on top of a three foot plinth, it’s no surprise that Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland discouraged the tradition to avoid damage and injury.

In 2013, the council proposed a scheme to double the height of the plinth in order to deter intrepid cone fans.

The immediate backlash from the Glaswegian public, however, showed that the practice was not widely considered an act of vandalism, but rather a representation of local culture.

Within 24 hours, a ‘Keep the Cone’ Facebook page had accumulated over 72,000 fans who united in opposition of the council’s plans.

“After reading an article about Glasgow City Council intending to spend an inordinate sum of money as part of an ill-thought plan to deter future coneing, I thought that I’d do my bit to help save the tradition – but also to help save tens of thousands of pounds worth of tax payers’ money,” recalls Raymond Hackland, one of the founders of Keep the Cone.

The plinth restoration project was to cost £65,000, and the council claimed that the cost of removing the cone amounted to £10,000 per year (£100 per cone).

“The Cone has often been referred to as a symbol of Glasgow. It’s most certainly synonymous with the city, and should be there to stay.” Raymond Hackland, Keep the Cone founder

In addition to the Facebook page, a rally was organised and over 100,000 fans from all over the world signed a petition in support of the cone.

Thanks to public pressure, Glasgow City Council eventually backed down and the restoration plans were scrapped.

“There are so many people from all over the world that love the cone being there so much,” says Hackland.

“It conjours fond memories of perhaps their past in Glasgow, holidays in Scotland, friends and family back home – the list goes on.”

What the cone means to Glasgow

According to Hackland, the cone represents an important part of the city’s identity – Glasgow’s unique sense of humour.

“It’s a harmless way of ‘sticking it to The Man’ and it simply gives people a laugh or reminds them of good times,” Hackland says.

The campaigner coined the term ‘keep it coney’, and encourages fans to use it as a hashtag on social media.

“so what do you do at uni-” “embellished traffic cones.” #textiles #embellishment #beading #keepitconey A post shared by hazel???? (@squiddleyy) on Feb 14, 2017 at 9:18am PST

“To keep it coney is to always try and have a giggle and bring good vibes into the world, and even a wee bit of sunshine into the lives of those around you. I think this is what the cone does,” says Hackland.

For some people it’s a light-hearted symbol of anti-establishment or simply just something funny or quirky, but for others the cone has even more importance.

“Some of our Facebook fans (or ‘Coneheids’ as we honourably call ourselves) even have beautiful stories about how it was a symbol of hope to them as they drudged through a difficult period in their lives. A wee reminder to smile,” the organiser adds.

Even the authorities are coming round to the idea that the cone means more to the heritage of Glasgow than the statue itself ever has.

“At one point the council wanted to spend a small fortune on deterring coneing but now they use the symbol to promote tourism and culture within the city – such as at the Commonwealth Games 2014 in Glasgow. Pretty funny, don’t you think?” Hackland laughs.

Historian Owen Dudley-Edwards has argued that even Wellington himself would have been amused by the practice and embodied the ‘keep it coney’ ethos.

“He understood his soldiers well. He liked to keep it real.”