Page 81 - All About History - Issue 56-17

18th-century graffiti on choir
stalls in a Welsh church
Defacing the Church
Even the sacrilegious notion of defacing a holy site
did not keep churches safe from the wandering
hands of graffiti artists. Church graffiti tends to fall
into a few set types — perhaps the most common, Names scratched on a church
pew in Dorset, England
as in all periods, is simply the name of the person
writing the graffiti. Pilgrims sometimes wanted to
leave a reminder of themselves at a holy place — a Other church graffiti serves a more obvious Luckily for the guardians of churches today,
name, or just initials, was perhaps all a graffiti artist devotional purpose. Crosses left by visitors can be visitors are much less likely to be carrying the
had time to set down. found in almost every church in Christendom. The correct tools for carving into stone. A pen or pencil
Others seem to have had no such temporal double V sign, overlapping to look like a W, was in the pocket might leave a mess, but it would be
worries. One of the startling things about church shorthand for Virgo Virginum (Virgin of Virgins), one that is easily wiped clean. The graffiti artists
graffiti is often the complexity of the art: works of a reference to the Virgin Mary. Other pieces of of the Middle Ages would have had a knife with
heraldry, fully rigged ships, ornate crosses, musical church graffiti could also be physical acts of prayer. which to pick out their pattern. Two beautiful and
notation and figurative images of demons, people A ship carved on a wall may have been a call for common works of graffiti are the circle and
and saints can all be found in churches. Was divine protection before a sea voyage. An image of the six-petal daisy wheel. These were made
security much more lax in the past, or was such a church containing initials may be a poor man’s by a pair of compasses or shears — a biro
behaviour winked at by the authorities? memorial, for those unable to afford a tomb. just won’t cut it.
H o w t o r e c o r d c h u r c h g r a f i t i

Your local church might be hiding hidden treasures — here’s what you need to find them

Find your church Gather equipment Locate grafiti Record it
Start by locating some churches in your To become a graffiti hunter, having Graffiti can be found anywhere, so keep Scratched graffiti may be hard to make out, but a
local area. The older the church, the the right equipment is key as, once your eyes peeled. Look for old stonework, torch held at a raking angle can help by creating
more chance there is that there will be you discover some, it’ll need to be pillars, doorways and fonts as these were shadows. Place a ruler beside the graffito to
interesting graffiti to be found, so be recorded. You will need a camera, a often targeted. Please be respectful of show the scale. Make sure to note down its
sure to ask for the building’s age as well ruler, a pocket torch and a notepad your surroundings — churches are places of location in your notebook and be sure to share
as permission to poke around the pews. and pen. worship as well as historical interest. your discoveries for other researchers to see.

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