It was named after the gargoyle statue in the college building, which was originally created by Frederick Cumberland in emulation of tenth century medieval architecture.

Except for a hiatus between 1973 and 1977, when the University College Literary and Athletic Society lost its entire budget to an impersonator of its treasurer and the paper was forced to collapse,[2] it has published continuously since 1954.

The Gargoyle is staffed by an editorial masthead of undergraduate students, as well as a group of staff and regular contributors.

As opposed to most contemporary publications, The Gargoyle was, until 2008, laid out completely by hand, forsaking desktop publishing applications for scissors and glue.

[5] The Gargoyle has since shifted to a hybrid production style, in which most pages are still laid out by hand on paper but are then scanned and digitally modified.