St Mary’s, Woodham Ferrers, Essex

Figure with lute
Figure with lute

The church of St Mary’s in Woodham Ferrers, Essex dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries. It has a faint doom painting above the chancel arch and a few remnants of paintings on the columns. These are dated to the 14th century.

In terms of protective marks, St Mary’s has several compass drawn circles, a partial daisy wheel, a pentagram, some crosses and a couple of burn marks on the inside of the south door.

On the column opposite the north door is a faint outline of a figure. The figure appears to be holding something long and thin and from the position of their hand it looks like they could be playing a lute or lute-like instrument.

There are two sets of clustered compass circle designs. They are very faint but appear to be precisely done. It could be that they are designs traced out before they were painted as a decorative design rather than conventional graffiti.

The remainder of the graffiti in the church is made up of names and initials. Most of the dates are from the 18th century but there is a clear 1601 as the earliest date.

Report by Anthea Hawdon

St Mary’s Church, Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford Essex CM3 8RF

The church is open on Tuesdays between 10am to 12:30pm. Parking is opposite the church in The Bell pub car park.

 

 

Search terms: RF 1931, IH 1761, Partial compass daisy wheel, TR, EE 1755, three compass circle design, TO 1757, IH 1761, IB 1757, RR 1755, TO 1761, compass circle, Pentagram, cross, WP 1601, CT 1713, Circle (hand drawn), other marks, circles, Figure, possibly playing lute, Burn mark, HF, Xs, IR 1722, AH 1880, LM, Z, JH, EC, 1900s, 1930s, 1700s, 1760s, 1750s, 1600s, 1710s, 1720s, 1880s, 1800s