TF0039 : St.Michael and all Angels : graffiti in the porch
taken 5 years ago, near to Heydour, Lincolnshire, England
Many churches have, scratched in the stone, patterns of circles, crosses, and mystic signs. After literacy became more common, names and dates started to appear.
The name 'medieval graffiti' has been given to these vernacular carvings, but some of the dated ones have 17th and 18th century origins, and I have seen one dated 1952.
It has been suggested that these represent an attempt to associate people with the place, in the hope of a safe return from pilgrimage or war. No-one really knows. It may simply be the same determination to 'make one's mark' that led schoolboys to carve their desks, or modern youth to get out the spray paint. But some of them must have taken a lot of time to complete, perhaps in more than one session, suggesting that the local church authorities were tolerant of this practice, that it was culturally normal.
The phenomenon is not unique to churches, as roadside crosses sometimes fall victim. Curiously it does seem to be confined to stonework of communal ownership, you don't see it done on people's homes or gravestones.
There is a web site called "Medieval Graffiti" which is owned by a project recording the phenomenon in Norfolk, but similar carvings have been found all over the country, although largely ignored by historians up to now.
Norfolk: Link
Suffolk: Link
Lincolnshire: Link
Surrey: Link
East Sussex: Link
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire: Link
BBC story: Link
Blog: Link
Grade I listed.
The church dates from the 12th century onwards, and was recorded in the Domesday Book.
There is a western tower with spire, nave with north and south aisles and clerestory, chancel with north chapel, and south porch.
The church is built in Ancaster stone with lead and slate roofs.
The tower dates from the 13th C. and has a plain parapet with gargoyles and pinnacles. The octagonal spire has one set of lucarnes. There are eight bells.
The south porch has a stone ribbed roof and side benches, and the south door is 14th century.
The nave and north and south arcades of four bays with octagonal piers are from the 14th century. The south aisle has its own piscina.
The clerestory was added in the 15th century with six windows.
The tower arch is also 14th century, and inside the tower is a portion of 12th century zigzag moulding reset over the doorway.
The chancel arch is also 14th century, although the chancel was probably 13th century and rebuilt in the mid 19th century. It has the usual sedilia and a squint into the north chapel. The east window is a triple lancet with glass by Kempe.
The north chapel is filled with monuments to the Newton family, and there are several good monuments from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The 14th century octagonal font has incomplete patterns of tracery, perhaps due to the Mason becoming a victim of the Black Death.
The church has two stained-glass windows from the 14th century given by the Scrope family. The windows were removed for cleaning and restoration in 2007. There are other fragments of mediaeval glass elsewhere in the church.
There is a two manual organ by Forster and Andrews on the north side of the chancel.