Medieval graffiti website

The Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey is pleased to announce that their website is now fully updated and revised. The new site now contains the first elements of a visual catalogue that showcases some of the more interesting and unusual discoveries made by the project. It is currently organised by parish but, as the site expands, we hope to make all the information searchable by subject as well as by site. The new site also contains a link to the new Medieval Graffiti twitter feed - which allows you to learn about new discoveries as they are made. Real-time church archaeology.

Some churches have apotropaic marks and other esoteric graffiti, which whilst not actually Pagan, derives from the pagan worldview which the Christian order inherited. To quote Ronald Hutton:

medieval and early modern Europeans constructed their world-picture out of materials taken from both Christianity and ancient paganism, making a mixture of both which they believed to be a form of Christianity.

More apotropaic marks

A commenter on my one of previous posts about apotropaic marks left a link to his photos of daisy wheels and other inscribed circles on Flickr. There are lots of them from many different places. There are also several Flickr groups devoted to similar marks.

More apotropaic marks

I spotted this apotropaic mark in the doorway of Lacock Tithebarn the other weekend. It's rather similar to the ones on Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn.

The circle with daisy-wheel in it is a Heathen symbol, but it seems very unlikely that it was meant as a heathen symbol in this context (tithe barns were for gathering tithes for the Church). But it is nevertheless a magical act to attempt to turn away harm using a special symbol.

Apotropaic marks, Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon

I've blogged about apotropaic marks before, and mentioned the ones at the Tithe Barn in Bradford-on-Avon. Here are some pictures of them; they are daisy-wheels inscribed with a pair of compasses or dividers, probably by one of the masons who built the barn. Exactly what symbolism he may have intended is unclear (the daisy-wheel is a symbol in Heathenry, but it is very unlikely that he was a Heathen). The Tithe Barn was built in the early 14th century as part of the medieval farmstead belonging to Shaftesbury Abbey.

Anyway, the marks are a very clear example of the type. I took these photos on my mobile phone last Sunday.

Apotropaic marks

Apotropaic marks and objects are often found in old houses. They were intended to turn away harm by distracting malevolent spirits. Examples include inscribed circles, sometimes with a daisy-wheel in them; double Vs (for Virgin of Virgins), random-looking scratches, and sometimes even runes. They are not a pagan custom, though they do indicate a belief in magic. Objects that have been found include dead cats (one hopes they had died of natural causes before being placed in the wall cavity), shoes, bottles and pots.

There are some apotropaic daisy-wheel marks in the doorway of the tithe-barn at Bradford-on-Avon.

Such marks are related to, but not the same as, mason's marks (which often had magical associations but were not put there to turn away harm).

Contemporary Pagans sometimes make spirit bottles (bottles containing coloured threads). Of course you can also carve or paint runes or other marks in your own house but you should never ever do it on old buildings or ancient monuments (and 99.99% of Pagans would never do this anyway).

There is a lot of information on the use of spirit patterns and objects in Nigel Pennick's excellent book, Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition.