Golden Cockerel to grace new stadium roof
Mon 10 September 2018, 09:24|
Tottenham Hotspur
The iconic Golden Cockerel that once sat proudly on top of White Hart Lane will be returning home to our new stadium.
A new version stands at approximately 4.5m tall – nearly double the height of the original – and will sit on the stadium’s roof structure above the South Stand.
The Club has been working with London Mould Makers (LMM) to create a scaled-up replica of the original that first appeared at The Lane in 1909.
Golden Cockerel to grace new stadium roof
• World-famous Club symbol to take pride of place above the South Stand of new stadium.
• Cockerel stands at 4.5m tall – a scaled-up replica of the original created in 1909.
• It includes every tiny detail of original that currently sits in the lobby of the Club’s Lilywhite House offices – including dent made by Paul Gascoigne in the late 1980s!
The original currently sits in the lobby of the Club’s Lilywhite House offices in Tottenham and LMM has taken a 3D scan of the sculpture that picks out every tiny detail.
It means that the new cockerel maintains every scratch, bump and dent from the original – including one supposedly put there by one of our all-time heroes, Paul Gascoigne.
Recalling the time when the Cockerel was removed from the old East Stand for maintenance in 1988, Club Historian, John Fennelly, said: “The Cockerel was falling apart. It was dented and in pretty poor condition.
“The story was the dents had been caused in the Blitz. But the truth was the damage was done by Gazza — with an air rifle.
“He tried to deny it but he’d been spotted.”
The 3D scan of the Cockerel was initially sent to a computer numerical control milling company which carved the sculpture in pieces from a high-density polyurethane foam.
The Cockerel has been assembled in the LMM workshop, where the surface was treated to provide a hard resin coat finish.
A silicon mould has been produced and, by casting fibreglass into the mould, the shell was created. This fits around a stainless steel supporting armature.
With the fibreglass shell wrapped around the stainless steel, it has been worked back to create seamless joins. The sculpture has been primed and painted with a two-part golden finish, ready to be lifted onto the top of the South Stand roof.
Arthur Steward, London Mould Makers, said: "The Cockerel has such a rich history, it tells its own story. It is an honour to preserve that history and pay homage to the original artists who created it.
“Many of our employees working on this project are Tottenham residents, so we are all well aware of the huge benefits this stadium regeneration scheme will bring to the local area.”
The Cockerel is the latest example of how The Lane will live on within the very fabric of our new stadium.
The polished concrete floors of the stadium’s concourses feature crushed aggregate taken from the foundations of our beloved former home.
Meanwhile, bricks taken from the old East Stand have been re-purposed within The Shelf – one of three feature bars available to all fans attending our matches.
