St Mary the Virgin, Widdington, Essex

 

The church of St Mary the Virgin, Widdington dates back to the 12th century. Most of the graffiti is in the chancel around the north door and the south window. There is also some graffiti around the piscina which is unusual as piscinas are, in my experience, free of any graffiti.

The vestry doorway in the north wall of the chancel has two merels of the three men’s morris design.

There is a curious dot and knot pattern at the windows of the north of the chancel, a heraldic shield by the vestry door and the piscina has two rows of tally-style marks.

The rest of the graffiti is made up of names and initials. The earliest date is 1602. A large number of names have been scratched out to the point of illegibility.

Report by Anthea Hawdon with a big thank you to Caroline Wren who provided hospitality and showed me round the church.

St Mary the Virgin, Church Lane, Widdington, Saffron Walden, CB11 3SF

 

 

Search terms: R Carmichael 1956 24/1/56, ASDIC, Thomas Rayment (crossed out), other names (crossed out), John Wolley 1612, RCI, dot and knot pattern, TR, P, IR, R, RT, P, Merel (3 men’s morris), PB, Thomas, other marks, RT, ET, LTRB,NF, Heraldic shield, Tally style marks, WI, Willie, script, IO, RC IR, IS, WI, 1602, IB 1661