2 hours ago
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The Wind in the Willows is one of the most beloved books of British children’s literature, but while most people think of the jolly adventures of Toad, Mole and Rat, Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 story has a darker side.
And it was a step too far for the Beadle security guards at Westminster Abbey, who told a visitor wearing a sweatshirt with an illustration from the book that she had to take it off because it was “an image of the devil”.
Chapter seven of the book is entitled Piper at the Gates of Dawn – borrowed by Pink Floyd for the title of their debut album in 1967 – in which the doughty animals encounter a variation of the Greek satyr-like god Pan while searching for Otter’s missing son.
It was this image as envisaged by the artist W Graham Robertson for the cover of the first edition of the book that was used by folklore magazine Hellebore on its clothing and merchandise, and which Linsey Teggert – a self-confessed folklore fan and “history nerd” – was wearing on a visit to the abbey on Monday morning.
She had been on a short break in London for a couple of days from her home near Morpeth, Northumberland, with her husband, Daniel, and had booked tickets to tour Westminster Abbey.
Linsey, 38, who is a visitor operations manager at a zoo and a freelance music journalist, said: “I didn’t take much with me and it was a bit chilly that day so I just threw on the sweatshirt without a second thought. It wasn’t a premeditated decision to wear it.
“We walked through the security scanner at the entrance but then one of the security guards called me back. I just thought he wanted to check my bag or something.
“Then he said I’d have to take off the top or cover it up because it was an image of the devil and it might offend people in the abbey.”
Linsey argued that it wasn’t the devil, but a representation of Pan. She said: “I started to tell him, because I’m a total history nerd, that there are loads of folklore and mythology-related carvings inside the abbey, and I was talking about the Green Man, but he wasn’t having it. He said: ‘Well, it’s got horns and it’s demonic.’ My husband had to actually step in and say: ‘Look, we’re not Satan worshippers or anything!’”
With a queue building behind them, Linsey said she started to get anxious and complied, taking off the sweatshirt and tying it around her waist as she had not brought a jacket to cover it up.
Linsey said: “It just felt a bit weird, a bizarre exchange, and I was made to feel like I’d really done something wrong. Afterwards I felt a bit annoyed, and I was going round the abbey pointing out some of the carvings to my husband, saying: ‘Oh, look, there’s a dragon and there’s a Green Man. Lots of things from mythology and folklore.’
“I appreciate security have to do their job but I was just wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, I didn’t turn up looking like some kind of devil worshipper.”
A spokesperson for Westminster Abbey said the abbey has a dress code that says: “As Westminster Abbey is a church and place of daily worship, we ask you to show respect and sensitivity in the way you dress.”
She added: “I think it’s possible that the message on the clothing was misinterpreted. We will share this feedback with our security colleagues.”
She also invited Linsey and Daniel back to the abbey to have tea and cake at the Cellarium cafe.
