YOUR news item "Abbey looks to the future" (February 27) claims that the boat gargoyle "...is based on the eroded original from Selby Abbey, showing a Norman disembarking from a ship".

The original was not as you describe. The original showed two men, without war gear, baling out a boat. There is a drawing of the original in Gothic Architecture In England by Francis Bond (Batsford 1906).

The modern carving is beautifully executed, down to the wrinkles on the Norman's face, but it is unsatisfactory for several reasons.

First, it fails aesthetically. The single figure on one side of the boat can only be viewed properly from one side. On the other side the gargoyle will appear as a rectangle with a hump.

Secondly, the original figures gave better physical balance and thus better stability.

Thirdly, the new carving lacks the humour of the original, which suggests that the two baling figures are responsible for the water being poured from the gargoyle on to unwary passers-by.

Ecclesiastical architects are well paid. This means that claims to authenticity should be well based - which in the case of the gargoyle of the boat is not the case. How did the architects fail to consult a classic work on church architecture before deciding on the details of the supposedly "correct" boat carving?

C M Ann Baker,

Church Avenue,

Selby.

Updated: 10:10 Friday, March 07, 2003