Four years ago I wrote about a project inspired by SpaceForAll that was researching the history of the church building and community. I joined the project because I was interested in the building, and having realised how much historic graffiti was in the church I started to record it. At the time I wrote an article that included some of the names and dates found.
The wider project faded away not long after that but I am still hoping to complete an analysis of the church graffiti and make the results available. That will take some time so I will try to provide snippets as I go.
This mark is at the base of the tower, by the side of the west door. The stone is covered with closely spaced parallel scratches but they were almost certainly made by builders using a multi toothed scraper to roughen the surface and provide a key for plastering.
The more interesting marks are some criss-cross lines within a D-shape (highlighted) These are deeper and the lines are not quite parallel, showing that they were individually cut.
Cross hatching is one of several marks used in mediaeval times to ward off witches. They were often placed by an entrance where the witches might try to come in, and the location by the west door is consistent with this being a witch mark (apotropaic to use the jargon). If so it would have been made some time between the 16th and early 19th century, making it earlier than most of the dated graffiti we have.
The meaning of the D-shape is unclear. Was it just a frame for the other markings or did it have a separate meaning?
If you are interested in this work, or you know of any graffiti that I might have missed, then please get in touch with me: 0118 978 5520 or john@jaharrison.me.uk
John Harrison (July 2025)
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