Newly recovered gargoyles are at the heart of a decades-long mystery in Tilton and Northfield

They began vanishing in the 1970s.

Random acts of vandalism plagued Tilton and Northfield for years amid a proliferation of mass-produced statues that made public art especially ripe for defacement. The indiscriminate plunder even reached the century-old gargoyles mounted to the four lampposts surrounding the Memorial Arch of Tilton. One by one, they began to disappear.

Made from wrought iron, ostensibly to withstand the heat emanating from the gas flames atop the lampposts, the fantasy creatures had a distinctive appearance: long, striated necks held up countenances like those of monkeys. The whole beast, with its distended belly, took on the silhouette of a seahorse.

When John Ciriello first heard of the gargoyles, he couldn’t resist conjuring a picture in his mind. “You try to envision it before they even finish telling the story,” he said. And when, three months ago, an anonymous donor contacted him about surrendering two of those gargoyles, he couldn’t help but indulge a cautious excitement.

“He said, ‘I want to remain anonymous. I don’t want to get in trouble. However, this is something that’s been weighing on my heart, and I have to do it, and I want to bring them forward,’” recalled Ciriello, the chair of the Tilton Historical Society.

The gargoyles were a legitimate artifact: The lengthy protrusion Ciriello had pictured as a mermaid’s tail turned out to be a sharp, three-toed talon. The single bolt through each of the creatures’ bellies explained how all 16 gargoyles, four on each lamppost, were so easily stolen.

“They’re huge. They were much bigger than I imagined. They almost come up to your hips. And not only were they huge, but they were extremely heavy,” Ciriello said.

In Northfield, their recovery has sparked renewed conversation about restoring the park surrounding the Memorial Arch of Tilton, a monument erected in 1882 by one of the area’s richest men. The treeless, illuminated hilltop would have towered above the town at a time when electricity was still scarce, a former glory Northfield officials plan to salvage, beginning with the gargoyles.

Town leaders hope to recast the recovered artifacts, working with the Northfield Parks Commission finance the project through a combination of an extended federal grant and community fund raising, according to town administrator Stephanie Giovannucci. Once replicas have been made, selectmen have agreed to donate one of the gargoyles back to the Tilton Historical Society.

The way Ciriello sees it, the two towns owe the teenagers who absconded with the gargoyles in the 70s — and who found no other use for them beyond trouble-making — a debt of gratitude.

Whether or not they realized they were playing such a role, the culprits insulated them from the elements and future vandalism better than the town would have been able to if the gargoyles were still on display.

“Not for nothing, but the gargoyles probably wouldn’t exist if they weren’t stolen,” Ciriello said. “Sometimes when these kind of things happen […] in a way, it’s good when they fall into the hands of somebody who’s going to be able to protect it.”

The arch’s perch above Northfield has a story of its own.

When Charles Tilton was a young man in his 20s, the town of Tilton was a village of Sanbornton still maturing into its golden age of economic prosperity. The son of a prominent local family, Charles made his own fortune investing in railroads and selling goods to miners during the California gold rush. He returned home to New Hampshire, and promising to pave roads and bring electricity to Tilton if it seceded, he became the town’s biggest benefactor.

A trip to Rome inspired him to build an arch of his own, and a knoll overlooking the neighboring town of Northfield provided the most visible, imposing site for it.

His opinion of the town soured as Northfield refused his offer to merge with Tilton, and with it Charles abandoned his intention to be buried in the red granite sarcophagus beneath the arch, according to Ciriello.

Lit from an underground chamber that’s since been sealed off, the gas-powered lampposts outlived Charles, but not without damage. The gargoyles became a distant memory — Giovannucci said she hadn’t heard of them before receiving a call from Tilton town administrator Scott Hilliard detailing their recovery.

“I love history, and I love preserving history anytime we can find an artifact or something to hold on to. I’m always willing to take it off somebody’s hands and preserve it for the town itself. I thought, personally, this was like the coolest thing ever,” Giovannucci said. “We’re hoping that, if there’s more out there that somebody has in their attic, that they’ll also bring them forward.”

Surrendering diverted ephemera can be complicated. Hilliard and Ciriello were careful to check with the Northfield Police Department about the donation of what was, technically, stolen property. The statute of limitations, they were told, has long passed.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter that they were taken,” Ciriello said. “What does matter is that they returned.”

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