Sculpture Information
On 13th May 2025 a stone carved Lamprey Pie was presented to Highgrove Gardens as a gift for King Charles III to celebrate his coronation. It was a wonderful day for team Gloucester with the Town Crier Alan Myatt, the then Mayor Lorraine Campbell, the Sheriff Pam Tracey, Paul James the ex-leader of Gloucester Council and four of the donors. With our wonderfully eccentric Gloucester flair, the announcements were made traditionally with the ringing of a bell and the town crier’s booming voice. It was a very joyful day with high tea in the restaurant but no sign of the King — but he sent his representative.
I was asked to carve the pie way-back in March 2023. I must admit I suspected it wouldn’t come to anything, so sent a rough sketch to Paul James not expecting that he would send my draft off to Buckingham Palace! This probably explains why it took a year to get confirmation for the project to go ahead. The idea was originally raised by the Gloucester Town Crier, Alan Myatt, which was taken up and led by Paul James who secured funding from over 17 donors.
We used a stone from the ruins of Gloucester’s LLanthony Secunda Priory (originally Limestsone from Painswick Quarry), as the King likes things which are upcycled. Paul James, being a trustee of Llanthony, loved the idea especially because in 1530 the Priory gave a Lamprey Pie to King Henry VIII! Little did I know that this tradition goes back to before 1200 and it was quite a thing in Gloucester.
Lampreys were a luxury going back to Roman times. Once King John exchanged one of his horses for some lampreys, such was their value. Apparently, part of the attraction is (after they are slow cooked) their rich texture tastes like beef! The Lampreys were used to gain favour with royalty, and it became a tradition for Gloucester to give a pie annually. Once Gloucester omitted its gifting responsibility and was fined the equivalent of £49,000 by King John.
Lampreys look like eels but they are actually flesh eating parasitic jawless fish who bore into the stomachs of other fish and drain their prey. Today the lampreys no longer habituate the River Severn, so pork pie is sent to the king Instead.
It took me 64 hours to carve the pie. See Tiktok: @deborah.harrison21 for daily summaries.
Related blog articles:
Carving a traditional Lamprey Pie for King Charles III
Cotswold Life Feature: To set before a king
