St Mary’s Hospital, London

St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London dates back to 1845. As is the way of old hospitals, it has been much altered and changed but the original building, now known as the Cambridge Wing, still exists with its main entrance on Norfolk Mews. It is a smaller entrance, where Norfolk Mews joins South Wharf Road, that I believe is the cause of the graffiti to be found on the wall along South Wharf Road. I believe that the oldest graffiti, deeply cut and blackened with soot and dirt from before Clean Air Acts where a thing, is queue graffiti scratched in the wall by people queuing for entrance in that door. Not all the graffiti now on the wall is the original queue graffiti but I think it is certainly there because of that older graffiti.

There are many vertical scratch marks, some very deeply cut, a few coin marks where a coin has been ground into the brick causing a characteristic circular depression, the usual accumulation of initials and names and a few symbols.

I had high hopes of the coin marks. I thought if I could measure the diameter of the hole that could be matched to the size of coins and possibly aid as a way of dating the graffiti. Alas the marks all seemed to be about 20mm and that would match the xixpence, threepence and farthing of pre-decimilisation times and the current issue penny. From the dirt accumulated in the marks, I believe that the coin marks are before decimilisation in 1971 but it is difficult to get more specific than that. Another inference from the coin makes is that there are so few of them so that the implication is that the people queueing were not standing with coins in their hands waiting pay to get in as you find with queue graffiti by cinema entrances, for example.

There are not many symbols in the graffiti. The most common one is the heart, not always with the accompanying initials, though.

The single most common type of graffiti, outside of the names and initials, is the vertical scratch mark. I think these are evidence of boredom on behalf of the people making them. I also believe they are a direct descendant of the so-called ‘arrow marks’ found on old churches around the country.

Of the names and initials I would like to single out two. ‘Matron was here’ in 1945. I do hope that’s not the hospital matron! Also Maggie broke her leg in 1985. I hope it mended nicely.

 


St Mary’s Hospital, Praed Street, London, W2 1NY

Report by: Anthea Hawdon

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