Wrendition

Wren’s iconic heads guarding the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford have been given many names, including the ‘faceless Caesars’ and the ‘History of Beards’. The latter was coined by Michael Black, the stonemason who carved the current heads in 1970, an exact copy of those in Wren’s original design. He then left a small tribute to Wren - a small wren nesting in the hair of one of his stone sentinels.