Chapter 3: Apotropaic Graffiti & Inscriptions

Wayne Perkins

Chapter 3 deals with ‘apotropaic’ graffiti and inscriptions and discusses the appropriate use of the terms, ‘apotropaic’ or ‘ritual protection marks’ for the motifs recorded in ancient buildings

The discussion of graffiti covers some of the circular motifs regularly recorded by archaeologists,  including six-petal rosettes (daisy wheels), concentric and spiral circles…the validity of the much-maligned Marian mark…

Marian mark, south door, St James’, Longborough, Glos. Photo: © W Perkins 2024

…..Merel designs on vertical and angled surfaces….. (impossible to play as a game board)…

Merels in the window jamb St Milburga, Wixford. Warks. Photo: © W Perkins 2024

the multi-faceted Ragged Staff motif….(see webpage home page image)…..

…..and the significance of the Plague Arrow…

West window jamb, Chapel, Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick. Photo: © W Perkins 2023 (enhanced)

the ubiquitous Saltire (X)…the Grid (including meshes and Jacob’s Ladder motifs)..

Blocked window including grid motifs, Loudun, France. Photo: © W Perkins 2022 (enhanced)

There is a temporal separation among graffiti corpora, between those  marks apportioned to the ‘medieval’ period (pre-Reformation) and those that were made during the Early Modern Period (Post-Reformation) in England.

Identical symbols have been recognised in both periods, so the question remains; did the same motif – but in a different historical context – hold the same meaning for the graffitist…..

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A Consensus of Symbols: Patterns in Ritual Building Protection with Wayne Perkins – LIVE
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Published by Wayne Perkins

I am an archaeologist with over twenty years of experience. After a decade or so working as a volunteer on excavations in the 1990’s, I undertook my degree in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham. In the last year of my degree I helped to supervise the university’s annual excavations. Directly after my exams I began my career in Commercial Archaeology as a Field Archaeologist with Oxford Archaeology and remained there for four years. Anticipating a career in archaeology in France I volunteered on excavations at Rom and at Prisse-la-Charriere, Niort (for Poitiers & Rennes University respectively). In due course I worked for the States’ premier scientific organization, I.N.R.A.P. (Institut Nationale des Récherches Archéologiques Préventives) as well as for a number of private companies. I returned to the UK in 2013 and resumed my role as a Supervisor, undertaking projects around Oxfordshire with John Moore Heritage Services before moving to London in 2014. I now undertake Historic Building Surveys and supervise urban excavations in the City of London as well as overseeing rural excavations in surrounding Sussex, Surrey & Kent. Wayne Perkins BA Hons (Archaeology) ACIfA (Associate Member, Chartered Institute for Archaeologists)

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