Dartington Hall and Old Church Tower, Devon The buildings visible today around the Great Hall on the Dartington estate can be dated to all centuries from the 14th to the 20th. This recording exercise has concentrated primarily on the medieval buildings, but has taken account of all periods of graffiti and the phases of building…
Church Folklore Church Folklore, A Record of some Post-Reformation Usages in the English Church, now mostly Obsolete. The Rev James Edward Vaux M.A., F.S.A Griffith Farran & Co. London 1894 ‘When we search into the religious records of the past we cannot help being, at times, painfully struck with what appears to us a gross…
Everyday Magic in Early Modern Europe, Kathryn A. Edwards. Ashgate 2015 This volume of papers, though led and edited by Kathryn Edwards of the University of South Carolina, represents a pan-European area of research, with contributors from the UK, Finland France and Spain as well as ‘outsider’ input from the US and Australia. It…
Illustrated Symbols and Emblems of the Jewish, Early Christian, Greek, Latin and Modern Churches. HJ Smith 1900; Kessinger Library Reprints 2010 A picture book for lockdown 2.0 Despite the not so catchy title, this scanned reproduction is a charming late-Victorian take on the immense amount of iconography to be found in…
The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the Lewde dealing of Witches and Witchmongers is notablie detected, in sixteen books … whereunto is added a Treatise upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and Devils. Reginald Scot. William Brome, London, 1584. ‘How diverse great clarkes and good authors have been abused in this matter of spirits…
St John the Baptist, Bishopsteignton, Devon Contrary to what you might expect, sometimes the worst thing that can happen to an historic building is to have too much money spent on it. Too little money and it might just dissolve back into the parent soil; the right amount and it survives from century to…
Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course. Roberta Gilchrist, Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2012; paperback 2018. The aim of this book, as stated on its rear cover, is to explore how medieval life was actually lived, from birth to death and covering every aspect of the life course in between. It is, as Professor Gilchrist notes…
Devon, St Andrew Stokeinteignhead The church of St Andrew at Stokeinteignhead, South Devon, stands slightly above the surrounding cottages on the rising ground of a steep valley, which here widens out sufficiently to allow the formation of a village centre. The setting is constrained by the landscape, so that the relationship between church, church house…
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…
St John the Baptist (St John on the Wall) Bristol The church of St John the Baptist, Bristol, also known as St John on the wall, is today more intimately associated with vibrant modern graffiti than with the tiny details of the historic kind. The structure incorporates the last surviving medieval city gate, and with its…
St John The Baptist, Higher Ashton, Devon The little church of St John the Baptist, at Higher Ashton in Devon would appear to be a place with an identity crisis. Pevsner and Cherry, the accepted guide to English buildings, refers to it as St Michael. Nicholas Orme, in his scholarly survey of English Church Dedications, finds…
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,…
St Mary’s Priory, Little Dunmow, Essex (2/3) In the previous post of St Mary’s Priory in Little Dunmow, we looked at the graffiti round the doorway and the first two columns. This revealed the first of two graffiti described in Pritchard’s English Medieval Graffiti. The rest of the graffiti in the church is on…
St Michael the Archangel, Ilsington, Devon St Michael Ilsington is a large church that lies at the heart of its village, is accessible by way of the church steps, which are directly adjacent to the pub, or by a level entrance from the southwest corner of the site, passing through a gatehouse which once housed the…
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….
St Michael de Rupe, Brentor, Devon The phrase first coined by John Aubrey, of eighteenth century antiquarian fame, that a great many churches dedicated to St Michael are situated on high ground, has become something of a cliché – a cliché pretty well upheld by the stunning locations of some of the churches dedicated to…
St Michael, Lyme Regis, Dorset The approach to St Michael Lyme Regis through the town is not at first immediately obvious. The church is at the far end of what is now the main shopping street, round a corner, up a slope and virtually hidden behind later building. The graveyard is shielded from the sea…
St Martin, Little Waltham, Essex The church of St Martin at Little Waltham dates back to the Normans, but was rebuilt extensively in the 15th century. There is no graffiti visible anywhere in the church, but some if to be found on the north side of the tower arch. There, divided by a modern partition…
St John the Baptist, Bere Regis, Dorset The church of St John the Baptist dates to the 12th century with additions for three centuries. The ceiling was paid for by Cardinal John Morton (of Morton’s Fork fame) in 1485. Morton was born in the parish of St John the Baptist. There are statues of the 12…
St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (2/4) South Arcade The south arcade of St Mary and St Clement has an abundance of exciting graffiti. There are several compass drawn and hand drawn circle designs of varying complexity in the south arcade. The most notable of which are one large spiral within a compass drawn…
St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (1/4) The chancel of St Mary and St Clement was built in the late 14th century. The rest of the church was built at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. The roof is original, with angel carvings. The screen has traces of saints…
St Mary’s, Charminster, Dorset St Mary’s church at Charminster is an 11th century church, extended and improved in the 14th and 16th centuries by the local Trenchard family. The monogram of Thomas Trenchard made up of spirally intertwined Ts is visible in carvings and plaques throughout the church interior and exterior. The are two compass…
St Nicholas, Studland, Dorset The church of St Nicholas in Studland in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset is a simple Norman structure. Built in the 11th century on the base of an earlier Saxon structure, it consists of a nave, chancel and sanctuary. The round arches are simply carved with none of the dog tooth…
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…
All Saints, Rickling, Essex All Saints Church, Rickling is an interesting church in more ways than one. For a start, the nave and the chancel are on slightly different alignments, which indicates an earlier plan than the current 14th Century one. The graffiti, also has some unique elements including compass circles of hitherto unseen design…
West Ogwell Church, Devon West Ogwell Church is a 13th century church, now redundant and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It has a simple, whitewashed interior with box pews. The only visible graffiti is on a single limestone block beside the door. There are some Marian marks, initials, dot patterns and hash…
Holy Cross, Felsted, Essex Holy Cross is a wide, light-filled church built in the 12th century with additions and alterations in the 14th and 16th centuries. There have been renovations in the 19th and 20th centuries. These later renovations have removed some of the graffiti, but there is still a substantial amount, especially on the…
St Mary the Virgin, Lindsell, Essex This is a pretty, but odd-shaped church. It is wider than it is long with the tower in one corner. It is originally Norman with a simple round chancel arch with a large squint on the south side. A large column stands beside the font. The column and the…
St Mary’s, Kingskwerwell, Devon St Mary’s parish church in Kingskerswell was built in the 14th century with additions in the 15th century and is on the site of an earlier chapel. There are only a few examples of graffiti in the church. They are to be found on the effigies of Sir John Dinham and…
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…
St Mary’s Church, Wolborough, Devon St Mary’s, Wolborough dates from the 15th century, although the west tower is earlier. Contents include an ornate screen of circa 1518 and a Norman font. The church stands on a hill, commanding a view of the Teign estuary. There is little graffiti in the church. It consists of a…
The Guild Chapel, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire The Guild Chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon has strong links to Stratford’s famous son. Not only is it literally across the road from New Place, William Shakespeare’s home, but his father, John, as town bailiff, was tasked with removing the wall paintings as part of the Reformation. He chose to cover them with…
St Saviour’s Church, Dartmouth, Devon St. Saviour’s was dedicated as a Chapel of Ease in 1372, but it may be earlier in date. The church was enlarged in the late 14th/early 15th century and has been repaired and refurbished several times since. It is described as having one of the best interiors in Devon. Features…
St Blaise, Haccombe, Devon Haccombe parish church of St. Blaise, dedicated by Stephen de Haccombe, whose tomb lies here, was built in 1233, probably as a household chapel. Enlarged in the early English style in 1328, it contains a freestone screen, an octagonal font, a three-pointed sedilia, a 19th century chancel screen, tiles bearing coats…
St Peter & St Paul’s Church, Foxearth, Essex St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Foxearth presents some challenges to the graffiti hunter. For a start, it’s difficult to find. It is not visible from the road. The postcode and GPS will put you on the wrong street anyway. When you do find the correct unlabelled…
St Augustine’s Tower, Hackney, London St Augustine’s Tower is a strange remnant of 16th Century Hackney still standing in the midst of a bustling shopping district, a couple of minutes away from Hackney Central Overground station. It has a complex history. It was built in the early 1500s as part of a…
St Mary Church, Chickney, Essex The church of St Mary in Chickney, Essex is a Churches Conservation Trust church you approach down a single track road off the B1051. There is a small parking bay outside the churchyard. The church goes back to Saxon times with additions through the years and major restoration in the…
Condat-sur-Vézère, Dordogne Condat-sur-Vézère is a small village of approximately 900 inhabitants. As the name suggests, it is located on the bank of the Vézère river, with its tributary river, the Coly, joining it in the middle of the village. The village was home to a Commanderie of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem….