Lost dogs return home to Town House in the nick of time
Two lost dogs have been discovered and returned to their home at the Town House after decades in storage.
The two stone dogs, which originally stood proudly on the top of the Town House, had been missing for many years, until by strange coincidence, within hours of the unveiling of the Town House, they mysteriously reappeared.
The two forgotten sculptures had been gathering dust in unmarked crates in storage in an outbuilding at the Council’s Diriebught Road depot, when during an office move on the site, the crates were taken to museum stores. There, archivists discovered the two dogs and traced their origin to the Town House from archived photographs.
The restoration of the Town House included the creation of two new stone sculptures of wolves, which have just been put in place on the roof and the scaffolding was due to start coming down on Friday 15 September.
Provost of Inverness Helen Carmichael said: “This is a truly remarkable discovery! It is quite uncanny that they turned up by coincidence just at this time, with just hours to spare for the unveiling of the Town House. It is as if the dogs wanted to be found and returned to their rightful place.”
She added: “We will need to have their condition checked to see if they are fit to be returned to their original position, which would be perfect. If they are too fragile, then they will be placed inside the Town House. We also hope to put them on display in the museum for a short time, so that everyone can have a chance to take a close-up look at them and find out about their amazing story.”
One of the original stone dogs from the Town House
The original sandstone dogs are believed to be fine, high quality sculptures, with a huge amount of character carved into their faces. The scaffolding will now remain in place while conservationists examine the dogs. If they can be repaired and reinstated to the roof, the wolves, who are now another part of the building’s history and heritage, will be moved to an alternative location at the Town House.