St Mary the Virgin, Henham, Essex The church of St Mary the Virgin in Henham, Essex dates back to 13th century. The tower is dated to 1325 and the south porch to the 15th century, as does the font. The south porch is where most of the graffiti is to be found. It…
St Mary Magdalene, Wethersfield, Essex St Mary Magdalene church in the Essex village of Wethersfield dates back to the 12th century, although it is believed that there was a Saxon church on the site before then. Perhaps the church’s most unusual feature is the Samson Post at the base of the tower. The Historic England…
Hopital des Pelerin, Pons, France (2/2) Interior The interior of the pilgrims’ hospital consists of a wide open hall with two sets of columns down its length. There are a couple of side rooms at the far end and a door to an arcade and courtyard leading to what would have been the herb garden…
St Michael, Great Sampford, Essex (3/3) Chancel Graffiti This is the third and last post about St Michael, Great Sampford. The chancel has 26 seats set in stone bays. The Historic England listing states that they were said to have seated a Knight Hospitaller who were supposed to have built the church. The most prominent…
St Giles, Great Maplestead, Essex St Giles church in Great Maplestead was built in the 12th century with major additions in 13th and 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the Deane family, who lived in nearby Dynes Hall, added a small south chapel in the church. It holds their monuments. The most splendid monument in…
St Bartholomew, Churchdown, Gloucestershire St Bartholomew’s church in Churchdown is, in the way of many English village churches, actually at the top of steep hill. The church dates back to the 12th century with the usual additions and modifications through the centuries. The tower is 17th century. The carvings on the arch of the south…
St Peter and St Paul, Bardfield Saling, Essex The church of St Peter and St Paul in Bardfield Saling (also known as Little Saling) dates to the 14th century. It is notable as being one of only six churches in Essex to have a round tower. The organ is an 18th century chamber organ and…
December Miscellany Pictures This month’s pictures are from the Roman Britain and Europe galleries in the British Museum. Future Events Hidden Charms 3 Conference Items of Interest Cherokee ritual on the wall of a cave Blog post on graffiti at the Tower of London in Spitalfields Life
All Saints, Ashdon, Essex (1/2) There are some churches, that, as soon as you enter them, you know you’re going to be spending a while photographing all the graffiti in them. All Saints church in Ashdon is one of those churches. The church dates back to the 14th century, with most of the interior belonging…
St Mary the Virgin, Little Sampford, Essex There are some churches where setting, exterior and interior combine to form a whole that achieves way more than the sum of its parts. St Mary the Virgin in Little Sampford is one such gem and I would urge anyone to visit whether they are interested in graffiti…
St Mary the Virgin, Great Bardfield, Essex The church of St Mary the Virgin, Great Bardfield dates back to the 12th century. It is noted for its stone rood screen, one of only three in Europe. The screen has two angels facing out towards the nave and two demons facing in towards the chancel. Local…
St Barnabas, Alphamstone, Essex The little village of Alphamstone is recorded in the Domesday Book, but there is archaeological evidence that there was a settlement nearby in the bronze age The churchyard has several sandstone sarsen stones which may or may not have formed a stone circle. This is not the only mystery. The church…
St Mary’s Stebbing Essex (1/2) The light and airy church of St Mary the Virgin in the little village of Stebbing in the Uttesford district of Essex is one of those that appears to be way bigger than the size of population it serves. It stands on a ridge of high ground towards the south…
St Katharine, Little Bardfield, Essex The tower of St Katharine is pre-Conquest, but the tower arch is 15th century and this where the graffiti within the church is located. Despite it’s early origins, the 19th century interior restoration was extensive and very little graffiti was left at the end of it. While most of the…
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…
St Laurence, Ridgewell, Essex (2/2) St Laurence church has several compass drawn circle designs, including a very clear daisy wheel and an unusually long sequence of linked compass drawn circles. There is a large incomplete daisy wheel by the west door in the tower, it is obscured behind an old noticeboard. ” 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”…
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…
St Andrew’s, Buckland, Hertfordshire The nave and chancel of this Churches Conservation Trust church date to 1348. The tower, south aisle, porch and south door are from the 1400s. There is a bird of unidentified species, several harps and a heraldic shield. Notable among the protective marks is a concentric circle made up of twenty…
St Mary’s, Great Dunmow, Essex Great Dunmow, in Essex, is famous for its Flitch Trials, where married couples can win a flitch (side) of bacon if they can satisfy a jury that they have not wished themselves unmarried for a period of twelve months and a day. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath laments that she never…
Hampton Court Palace, London (1/2) I went to Hampton Court Palace as a tourist, wanting to keep an eye out for graffiti but not having planned this visit as a graffiti-hunting trip. I was blown away by how much graffiti there is in the place from drawings and protective marks in the Tudor kitchens to…
St George, Anstey, Hertfordshire St George’s church, Anstey, dates back to the 12th century with additions and changes in the 13th to 15th centuries. It is thought that some stones used in the church’s construction came from the nearby Anstey castle. Violet Pritchard has made extensive notes on the church in her book, English Medieval…
St Andrews, Halstead, Essex St Andrews church is in the centre of Halstead, a market town in Essex. The church dates back to the 14th and 15th centuries. There were no major alterations until 1850 when the west end was extended and the tower added. This 1850 alteration appears to have removed any graffiti in…
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…
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 Augustine of Canterbury, Birdbrook, Essex The main features of St Augustine of Canterbury in Birdbrook, Essex are the excellently carved pew ends in the nave and the arm rests in the choir stalls. They are carved in oak, by Ken Mabbit of the firm of H&K Mabbit, and were installed in the 1960s and 1970s. …
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…
Events Day course on Graffiti in August – in Edinburgh Crystal Hollis graffiti talk in London on 8 August Items of Interest Database of Romanesque Sites in Britain and Ireland WW2 graffiti in Bayeux More WW2 graffiti at Bayeux German POW graffiti from WW1 Sharpening Marks If you have ever sighed at someone explaining…
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…
Kings College Chapel, Cambridge There is a danger in graffiti hunting that you focus so much on the details on the walls and columns that you can fail to appreciate the wider beauty of the structures you are visiting. Here’s a tip, if you go looking for graffiti in King’s College Chapel, before you do…
St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (4/4) The north arcade has a wide variety of graffiti and also holds its own mystery. North Arcade & Outside The challenge of seeking out and recording historic graffiti lies beyond the finding and taking of pictures. The real task is to try to understand why the graffiti…
St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (3/4) Rood-loft Stairs Doorway To the south side of the chancel arch is a small doorway opening on to the stairs to the rood-loft. This is where Violet Pritchard found the short inscription, Amor Vincit omnia (love conquers all), which she records in her book ‘English Medieval Graffiti’….
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…
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…
St Andrews Church, Great Yeldham, Essex St Andrews church in Great Yeldham, Essex appears in Violet Pritchard’s English Medieval Graffiti. Unfortunately, the three intertwined fish she describes cannot be seen. All the columns and piers have been whitewashed, so this may be hiding the design. A compass drawn quatrefoil is clearly visible on one of…
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, 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…