St Mary Magdalene, Cowden, Kent The church of St Mary Magdalene Cowden is a border church, only just within the area covered by the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey, lying as it does with its southern edge almost touching the Sussex border and is three kilometres at the most from Surrey to the West. Cowden, although…
St Mary the Virgin, Alveley, Shropshire Construction of the church of St Mary the Virgin at Alveley commenced around c 1140, likely to have been on the site of an earlier structure. It sits on an eastern ridge about three quarters of a mile from the River Severn in south-east Shropshire. The name Alveley is…
St Dunstan’s, Snargate, Kent In 2018 the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey undertook the graffiti survey of the 14 medieval churches on Romney Marsh. One of these is in East Sussex, St Mary East, Guldeford, the rest are spread out across the rest of the Marsh. In late 2017, several members of the survey made a…
St Mary, Upchurch & St Margaret, Lower Halstow The Kent villages of Upchurch and Lower Halstow lay roughly five and six miles east of Gillingham respectively and north of the main A2 road. Lower Halstow is possibly slightly the smaller of the villages, with the little church of St Margaret of Antioch, tucked away on…
St Mary the Virgin, Henlow, Buckinghamshire The original footprint of the church of St Mary the Virgin dates to the 12th century but the current building dates mostly from the 15th century. The porch is modern. The interior walls are limewashed and graffiti pickings are very slim. I visited in the hope of tracking down…
All Saints’ Church was built of limestone and cobbles between the 13th and 15th centuries. It stands on a slight rise in the ground above the village of Sutton. Perhaps fortunately, the interior has seen little by way of modernisation. Violet Pritchard, in her book English Medieval Graffiti, concentrates on only one graffito in the…
All Saints’ Church in Shillington occupies a commanding position on a hill with excellent views of the surrounding countryside. This was my first Bedfordshire church on a trip where I set out to follow in the footsteps of Violet Pritchard, one of the pioneers in the field of English medieval graffiti. Talking a campervan up…
Notre Dame de Tulle is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the town of Tulle in the Corrèze region of France. An abbey has existed at Tulle since the 7th century. It prospered under the rule of Saint-Benoit. In 1317, the abbey became a cathedral and Abbot Arnaud de Saint-Astier became its first bishop. Due to…
The Tudor House Museum The Tudor House came into being in 1491, when Sir John Dawtrey, Overseer of the Port of Southampton and Controller of Customs, combined three smaller houses. It has a longer history, however, and its grounds feature the remains of a 12th century merchant’s house, that became known as King John’s Palace…
Saint-Vincent-le-Paluel, Dordogne, France This small church can be found in a hamlet in the Dordogne. The inside of the church has been restored , and no graffiti can be found on the interior walls, although some vestiges of paint can be found in the vicinity of the altar. The carved wooden altar back is impressive,…
The Graffiti of St Giles, Wormshill and All Saints, Iwade Alan Anstee of the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey talks about two churches near Sittingbourne in Kent. When looking through the surveys of these two churches prior to starting to write this, I was struck by the difference in what was found in each church. This…
The Collegiate Church of Saint Martin, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Dordogne The collegiate church of Saint Martin dominates the centre of the Dordogne market town of Brive-la-Gaillarde. The church was built on the site of the tomb of St Martin the Spaniard who was martyred in the town early in the fifth century AD, and the first building…
St Mary Magdalene, Stockbury, Kent St Mary Magdalene is a relatively small church built alongside the remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle, which overlooks the Stockbury Valley and Dean’s Bottom, a smaller valley that runs into it. The building originates from the late 12th century with 13th and 15th century additions; and was…
Brian Hoggard’s book Magical House Protection – The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft will be launched in Pershore, Worcestershire on Sunday 30th June. Join Brian and other enthusiasts at St Andrew’s Parish Centre. Church Walk, Pershore, WR10 1DT. Every attendee will receive a limited edition numbered enamel badge of the Apotropaios logo and the hard cover first…
Genealogist Richard Rossington has carried out some detective work on H Ghostly of Berkeley, who appeared in an early post. Richard describes how he went about his research and shares the results… The unusual separate bell tower of St. Mary the Virgin, Berkeley, Gloucestershire has a graffito ‘H. Ghostly’ cut into it, with ‘1826’ carved…
St Mary the Virgin, Stone near Dartford, Kent In December 2016 the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey (KMGS) surveyed the church of St Mary the Virgin, Stone near Dartford. Tucked away down a lane, off what used to be the main A2 road and now surrounded by modern housing developments is the lovely old church of…
A large concentration of ritual protection marks have been discovered in caves in Creswell Crags, a limestone gorge on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. Raking Light editor, caver Linda Wilson visited the site with researcher and archaeologist Alison Fearn and gives an account of the find. On Sunday 21st October 2018, cavers Hayley Clark and Ed Waters…
Chateau de Castelnaud, Dordogne, France The chateau of Castelnaud is a towering fortess in a commanding position overlooking the Dordogne River in France. It is open to the public all year and contains some fine displays of weaponry from the Middle Ages. The earliest records to mention the castle date to the 13th century when…
The Porch of St Mary Kenardington Alan Anstee of the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey pays a visit to an old haunt and describes the fascinating porch of St Mary’s church in Kenardington, Kent. St Mary, Kenardington is a small church with medieval origins near Ashford in Kent. Kenardington is a scattered hamlet consisting of clusters…
St Mary’s Pembridge, Herefordshire St Mary’s Pembridge, is a Grade 1 Listed Building, with 12th and 13th century origins. Its nave, north and south transepts and chancel arch were rebuilt during early 14th century and the north porch was added late in the same century. Restorations took place in 1871 and and in 1903-9. The…
A Tale of Two Churches – The Graffiti of All Saint’s, Murston, Kent It’s always a good thing to think outside the box when graffiti hunting, as Alan Anstee of the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey explains when he takes a look at All Saints, Murson. Since I started graffiti hunting with the Kent Medieval Graffiti…
Pew and Choir Stall Graffiti from Kent and a little from elsewhere Graffiti isn’t only found on stonework in churches, castles and houses. Alan Anstee of the Kent Medieval Graffiti Survey talks about some of the fascinating graffiti he’s seen on wooden church pews and choir stalls. When I was first asked to write something…
St Sacerdos Cathedral, Sarlat-la-Canéda, Dordogne St Sacerdos is a Roman catholic cathedral in the beautiful medieval market city of Sarlat in the Dordogne region of France. The cathedral has seen a great deal of reconstruction over the years. The east end of the cathedral dates back to the 14th century and was originally named Saint…
Eglise Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, Paulin, Dordogne The parish church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens, in the small village of Paulin, was built in the Romanesque style between the 12th to the 14th centuries. The church was listed as a historic monument on 4th October 1939. The church has a single nave and transept, whose cross is covered with a dome,…
Executing Magic in the Modern Era: Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine takes an in-depth look at the fascination that the bodies of criminals and their means of execution have exercised over the human mind for many centuries. In the Roman era, the blood of gladiators was believed to have curative properties…
Church of St Mary, Kington, Herefordshire Kington is a small market town on the Welsh Marches, resting in the shadow of Hergest Ridge. There was a church at Kington in the 12th century but above ground only the font survives. The current building dates from the 13th century, and is a Grade 1 Listed Building….
Saint Michael the Archangel in pre-Reformation England, and implications for the ‘butterfly cross’ graffito The mark commonly known as the butterfly cross is just one of the many perplexing symbols left on historic stone and woodwork by past generations. In form it tends to resemble a bow-tie shape, simply cut with two upright ends and…
The Collegiate Church of St Yrieix-la-Perche, Haute-Vienne The town’s religious origins go back to St Yrieix (or Arédius, c.510AD – 591), Abbott of Limoges, who established a community there in the 6th century. He was believed to have the power of healing, and after his death, his fame as a saint led to the construction…
Abbey Church of Sainte-Marie, Souillac, Dordogne The abbey church of Sainte-Marie in Souillac in the Dordogne region of France has its origins with the Benedictine monks of Saint Pierre d’Aurillac, who established a priory here in the 10th century. The abbey church was built between 1075 and 1150 and ranks amongst the finest examples of…
Skull and Crossbones Hole, Thrupp, Nr Stroud, Gloucestershire Skull and Crossbones Hole in Mackhouse Wood Quarry, Thrupp, near Stroud was located earlier this year by members of the Gloucestershire Speleological Society. An alternative name is Mackhouse Wood no 2. ” template=”/var/sites/r/rakinglight.co.uk/public_html/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/products/photocrati_nextgen/modules/ngglegacy/view/gallery-caption.php” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] The mine contains a large slab of stone with a…
St Mary’s Church and Tower, Berkeley, Gloucestershire St Mary’s is a Grade 1 Listed 13th century church, with the core of the current building dating from 1225 – 1250. All that remains of the earlier Norman church is the south door and the font, which was built for the total immersion of infants. To the…
Holy Trinity, Burrington, Somerset Holy Trinity Church, Burrington, Somerset is a Grade 1 Listed Building dating from the 13th century. The tower, which dates from 1250 to 1320, is the oldest part of the current building and is believed to have been built on the site of an earlier church. The church was restored in…
St Mary the Virgin, Elsenham, Essex St Mary the Virgin is a charming church, close to Stansted Airport, out of the village of Elsenham and up a single-track lane. Pevsner praises its Norman windows and doorway. It was visited by Violet Pritchard, who noted some text with a face carved into the capital letter. There…
The Church of St Thomas the Martyr, Bristol This beautiful late 18th century church is built on the site of a former medieval church demolished in around 1790 when it was deemed to be in an unsafe condition. The current church was designed in 1789 by local architect James Allen. The 15th century west tower…
Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire The castle, which is open to the public, originally dates back to the 11th century and has been in the Berkeley family since they reconstructed it in the 12th century, except for a short period of royal ownership by the Tudors. It is belied to have been the scene of the murder…
St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol St Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church in Redcliffe, Bristol, and is one of the largest parish churches in England. The church was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and has been a place of Christian worship for over 900 years. The church is renowned for its beautiful…
St Mary the Virgin, Henbury, Bristol St Mary the Virgin is a Church of England parish church in Henbury, Bristol. Construction of the present building took place in the 13th century with later restoration work carried out in the 19th century by the Gothic revival architects Thomas Rickman and George Edward Street. The church has…
The National Slate Museum The National Slate Museum is located at Gilfach Ddu in the 19th-century workshops of the now disused Dinorwic slate quarry, which closed in 1969. It is situated in the Padarn Country Park, Llanberis, Gwynedd. Today, the workshops tell the story of the Welsh slate industry. The workshops were built in 1870,…
Chateau de l’Herm Château de l’Herm is a castle in the commune of Rouffignac-Saint-Cernin-de-Reilhac in the Dordogne region of France. It was built between 1500 and 1520 by Jean de Calvimont, an ambassador of Frances I to Spain. The château was later abandoned, after the family left it in 1605. With the exception of the…