The memorial to Archbishop Lamplugh in York Minster was carved by none other than Grinling Gibbons - an unexpected Deptford connection in Yorkshire. However, Gibbons may have had his mind on other matters because there's one very odd feature: the statue depicts Lamplugh with two right feet.
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The Bishop would have been wearing identical shoes - different shoes for left and right didn't come in until the mid nineteenth century. In the 18th century British army, every soldier had to swap his boots over regularly to even out the wear.
Unfortunately for him, these aren't roughly symmetrical but have a definite slope where the right toes should be. Perhaps he'd just swapped them over!
Better than having two LEFT feet, anyway!
This was carved by Grinling Gibbons - Alledgedly, the reason for the two right feet is that he didn't pay up for the statue, so Gibbons got his revenge...
I was informed by a guide that he had two right feet because it was being sculpted by the sculptor and his apprentice. The sculpture was almost completed when the sculptor told his apprentice that he could complete the left foot but he had to copy how he did the right foot, the apprentice copied exactly what the sculptor did, hence two right feet.
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