It’s come up a lot recently that folks have been asking why Scots put traffic cones on statues heads. Personally, I think it’s a kind of silly and frankly very charming thing that used to just be done by students and the like, but it’s interesting how it’s morphed into this statement of Scottish national identity. So where did it come from? Where did it go? Where DID it come from?
Let’s explore together.
Background
The cones
The cones in question are traffic cones.
I never know how much of what I’m talking about in these articles is Scotland specific, Britain specific, Anglophone specific, etc.
These cones are used by construction crews to mark where you aren’t supposed to walk or drive because there’s essential works going on. They were invented by Lothaniel Traffic in the year 1892….
Nah, they were actually invented by an American painter called Charles Scanlon in the 1940s, but I had you for a second.
The statues
The Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow seems to have been the origin of putting traffic cone hats onto statues. At the very least, it’s the one I’ve heard about for over a decade in it being a regular thing.
Having looked into it, the cone has been a regular part of the statue since the 1980s. The Glasgow City Council was going to try and make the plinth higher so it wouldn’t be coned, but then over 10 000 people wrote a petition telling them to do no such thing. It’s become a great symbol of people power in Glasgow.
Why traffic cone the Duke of Wellington?
Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, is famously the guy who led the British forces who beat Napoleon. He was something of a British national hero, but he was also a pretty foul individual who showed little care for the people under his command. He became Prime Minister and became known as “the Iron Duke”, because people threw bricks at his carriage and he therefore required iron shutters for his safety.
He was seen as pompous and callous and Glaswegians like to take that sort of figure down. I do appreciate them for that, even though my status as a loyal citizen of Edinburgh prevents me saying anything overly nice about Glasgow.
So how has coning statutes gone global?
Over the years, there has been attempts by the Weegies (shortform for Glasgwegians) to put their culture all about. David Hume and Adam Smith in Edinburgh have both received this treatment on occasion. Adam Smith is a very impressive statue to put a cone on because it’s about 12ft tall, at minimum. I must freely confess I thought it best to leave Glasgow traditions where they belong as it’s fine for different cities to have different ideas of themselves. Also I’m a bit worried about getting brained by a traffic cone in our incredibly windy climate. But what’s happened recently has been truly iconic.
The Scottish football team, for the first time in almost three decades, qualified for the World Cup. This led to tens of thousands of Scots making their way across to the US to support the team. The Scots have found ourselves welcome in America, just as much as Americans are welcome here. These Scots have become legendary, emptying pubs, making friends with Bostonian who are said to be quite standoffish, and bringing Scottish bagpipes, kilts, and coning traditions.
Boston has had every statue coned at some stage. Pubs ran empty. Friendships have been made and tickets have been booked for friends to visit Scotland.
It turns out what I thought should probably stay a Glasgwegian tradition actually had a lot of effect on people on the other side of the world. This has had a reflexive effect on Edinburgh, where all the statues have been wearing hats. The Edinburgh councillor Jo Mowatt is noted as saying: “I wouldn’t tell Glasgow what they should and shouldn’t do, that’s up to them, but in the middle of where it’s happening, in Edinburgh, it’s just totally inappropriate.” But this is fighting against the tide, and who knows if it will remain common here or if it will fade. For now, though, it marks an interesting bit of local history.
So therefore, to conclude, Scots put traffic cones on statutes for a most interesting reason. Initially, Glasgwegians were having fun then it became part of their identity. Scots who then travelled to watch our team get kicked out, in the group stages, as is the tradition, which is older than coning. It fits into the general vibe of who Scotland is, Trainspotting, Baby Reindeer, Groundskeeper Willie, and cones on statues. It has right now become synonymous with modern Scotland, and I expect we’ll see the traffic cone hat tradition carry on for more than a little bit. It’s gone from the silly thing you’d expect from a drunk student to a pretty cool display of having a good time.
The writer of this piece doesn’t even like football that much but likes the culture around it.
Leave a Reply