Goat sculpture, Great Orme summit
This sculpture depicts one of the Kashmir goats which live on the Great Orme. The goats gained international fame during the worldwide Covid-19 restrictions in spring 2020 because the absence of traffic and people allowed them to roam right through Llandudno! The top image shows some of the headlines.
The bronze sculpture was created in 2002 by Graham High, a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. His first job after graduating from Leeds University was as a naturalistic sculptor at the Natural History Museum in London. The cast of the goat was made by Livingstone Art Foundry in Matfield, Kent, using some copper which had been mined at the Great Orme.
Kashmir goats are native to India. Queen Victoria had a herd in Windsor. She presented two of the “milk white” animals to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers as mascots, one each for the first and second battalions.
Queen Victoria also gave goats to the Mostyn family, which owned most of the land in and around Llandudno. They multiplied and were eventually placed on the Great Orme. During the First World War, many of the goats died after being chased over a cliff edge by soldiers who were training nearby and wanted to catch a goat for a mascot.
The wild goats’ fondness for garden plants made them unpopular with some householders at the Llandudno end of the Great Orme! In 2001 Conwy County Borough Council agreed to take steps to reduce Great Orme’s goat population, which had grown to 220. A birth control vaccine was administered, and some goats started new lives elsewhere.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, there were “lockdown” periods when the public’s freedom of movement was severely restricted. This allowed goats to wander right across Llandudno. The photos, courtesy of Llandudno resident Sarah Horrocks, show goats occupying the A546 Gloddaeth Avenue in May 2020 and in Holy Trinity car park in February 2021.
Some settled in Craig-y-Don but were returned to the Great Orme in spring 2021 because of the risk of accidents on the A470 trunk road. Some goats were later moved to Bournemouth, where their grazing has helped to control invasive shrubs along the cliffs.
With thanks to Sarah Horrocks
Postcode: LL30 2XF View Location Map
Great Orme Country Park information – Conwy County Borough Council