Has anyone else spent time looking at St Philip’s cathedral and wondered why it has a pig on its weathervane? St Philip’s was built by commission in the early 1700s. The church was consecrated in 1715 but the tower remained unfinished due to a lack of funds. A merchant tradesman, Sir Richard Gough who lived in Edgbaston, managed to secure a donation of £600 from King George I to enable completion of the tower. The tower was completed in 1725 and a gilt weathervane of a boar was erected atop the tower. The boar features in the Gough family crest and was added as lasting recognition of Sir Richard’s role in the tower being finished.