When it comes to being ugly, they are unsurpassed. But hideous looks can take their toll, and now nine of the gargoyles that sit atop the Bodleian Library are to be replaced with newer, more attractive versions.

The replacements were designed by children as part of a competition to celebrate Oxford’s millennium. The winning designs, which include a snarling wild boar, a dodo and a representation of J. R. R. Tolkien, will be immortalised in limestone and fixed permanently on the library next year.

The Bodleian dates back to the early 1600s, four centuries after Oxford first became associated with learning. The nine gargoyles are extensively damaged and there are no historical records on when they were created or what they looked like originally.

Participants in the competition, which was open to children in Oxfordshire aged 8 to 18, based their designs on myths, monsters or people with a connection to the county. Debbie Dance, director of the Oxford Preservation Trust, said many entrants took their inspiration from the hundreds of gargoyles on Oxford’s buildings. “It encouraged children to look above the shops and see the great variety of historic gargoyles that stare down at them,” she said.

Alex Sermon, 14, based his design on Tolkien, who was an Oxford professor. Ben Bryant, 13, was inspired by a local tale of a wild boar choking on a book. George O’Connor, 11, looked to a dodo in the university’s natural history museum.

Gargoyles are most commonly associated with the medieval Church and were believed to scare away evil spirits. In Oxford they include representations of dragons and demons, giants, green men and dons.

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