The next time you visit an old church, take a closer look at the porch as you walk in. If you're lucky, you could see the remnants of a medieval ritual intended to ward off bad luck, evil, or even witchcraft. Commonly known as “witch marks”, this term isn't really helpful as the various incisions carved into some of England's older churches and secular buildings were made for a host of different reasons, with concerns about witchcraft being only one of them.
Medieval graffitti? Yes, but although the bulk of the older markings were created with serious intent rather than as the result of idle mischief, the term “ritual protection” or “apotropaic” might better describe them. Even then, some were engraved by medieval stonemasons, the classic “mason's mark”, so we can't always assume there was anything sinister or magical behind them all. Nonetheless, a diverse array of symbols, patterns and sigils can be found around the porches, doors and windows of the churches of England as well as on the rafters and beams of other buildings such as homes and barns. So which ones are which, and what do they all mean?
The classic hexafoil is the symbol most commonly associated with witchcraft. Generally marked out with a set of compasses, it is also known as a “daisy wheel” on account of its flowery shape. A series of semi-circles are crossed over each other repeatedly, while the symbol itself dates back to prehistory, often referred to as the “flower of life”. The symbol does have a sun-like appearance but the petal shapes clearly define it as a flower of some sort, and it might represent the sanctity of Mary. Context is everything, and in this setting the symbol is probably drawn either to protect the building from bad luck and the negative intentions of others, or is created as part of a personal ritual or prayer.
This is probably one of the most common meanings behind these markings. They act as an intercessor, a keyhole between the mortal world and the heavens. Prayers made during scheduled church services are one thing, but a more personal and longer-lasting conversation could be made if a prayer or request for a blessing is recited while carving a specific pattern. The whole process becomes a ritual, while the permanent presence of the marking continues the ritual's intent indefinitely. It is there day and night, on consecrated stone, serving as a lasting reminder of the pact made between its creator and their chosen deity.
That figure could be God himself, Christ, Mary, or any chosen saint, which brings us to the next most common ritual protection mark – the VV. Sometimes carved as the two letters side by side, while other examples have them crossed in opposite directions, the initials stand for Virgo Virginum – Virgin of Virgins. The symbol is called a Marian Mark by buildings archaeologists and historians, an obvious choice as it was usually carved while praying to the Virgin Mary. When the two opposite V's are carved over each other an A is formed, creating a symbol to represent Ave Maria, while when crossed side to side one ends up with an M for Mary.
So why do people call them witch marks? Historic England, The National Trust, and other official bodies use the term, so what's the problem? This is a similar situation to the use of “Viking” or “Celtic” to refer to events, objects or people from certain points in history, a convenient term that lay people and casually interested parties can understand without going into too much detail on the subject. Most of us know that there's a lot more to it than the name, but we get the idea. Witch mark is one such catch-all term and rolls off the tongue a lot more easily then “apotropaic”!
Evil. The Devil. They were the same thing to the people of the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods. Old Nick was everywhere, either directing events personally or chanelling his work through human minions...the very definition of witchcraft. The cunning folk, the wise men and women, the magicians and the wizards, these people were not generally persecuted and in many cases actively took part in proceedings against accused witches. If you suspected that a witch was behind your problems then the local cunning man or woman was your first call, and as well as offering practical advice they could devise talismans and draw symbols to protect you from witchcraft in the first place. A witch on the other hand was a person who had either been possessed by a demon or who had voluntarily entered into a pact with one, maybe even with the Devil himself, becoming his “instrument of darkness”.
Perhaps you were looking forward to getting married, or to the baptism of your first child. You didn't want anything to go wrong, and so you, or someone acting on your behalf, etched a complex pattern around an entrance point to the church. Maybe you were one of the builders of the church itself, concerned that evil might contaminate the roofless building before it was consecrated. The possibilities go on and on, but suffice to say that while we do not know the precise motivations behind the carvers of designs made specifically to protect against witchcraft, we can make very good guesses based on comparison with other activities within the community.
Witch marks were generally complex in nature, the intention behind it being to “trap” the witch's spirit, familiar or just their magic within the lines and spirals of the design. Some such marks appear chaotic and tangled in nature but these varieties still usually consist one of endless line. They appear around church porches, windows and towers but I've seen them inscribed inside fonts too, as well as on features in secular buildings like inns and grand homes.
One such symbol to look out for is the Nine Mens Morris board design, a game that while dating to the days of the Roman Empire became very popular in England during the medieval age. The grid of intersecting squares was sometimes etched on to churches in the belief that evil – in whatever form it might take – would become trapped within the boxes or simply give up. There were several variations of the game board design, with three, six and even twelve pieces, so the grid could be simpler or more complex according to the “artist” and their skill and intent. Such was the popularity of the grid as a talisman against evil that I've even seen a Three Mens Morris design on the capstone of a dolmen in Portugal.
Drawings of ships were another design that can be found on some churches, presumably as part of a ritual intercession to protect a loved on at sea, and shields are another, with an obvious meaning. There is also an interesting tradition of hand shapes drawn on the stone benches of Midlands churches, the best example being at Little Comberton in Worcestershire, where at least four pairs of hands are present next to a shield and a raft of marian marks and personal initials at St Peter's. It became the custom for newly married couples to place their hands in the stencilled shapes for good luck, but whether this was the original intention is not known.
One other common symbol looks a lot like the “dagaz” rune used in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian texts and as identification marks. Two opposing triangles laid point to point, drawn in one continous circuit. It is indeed called a dagaz by some but the use of runes in England was long dead by the time this mark began to appear on churches, its literal meaning being “day”. My opinion is that this is two letter M's placed against each other to represent “Mother Mary” or in Latin “Mater Maria”. Prior to the establishment of the Catholic Church the cult of “Magna Mater”, a Roman development of Cybele, was popular so in any case it works. The symbol also produces a series of V's, facing in all directions, so its use as a protection mark around windows and doors is almost certain.
A motherlode of marks can be found in the porch at the Church of John the Baptist at Tredington in Gloucestershire. Hexafoils, a ship, a puzzling helmeted face, a mass dial, two labyrinth patterns and a host of initials and dates crowd the walls. At Beckford, in the shadow of Bredon Hill, a Nine Mens Morris board is etched onto a stone window frame, its use as a demon trap obvious in this setting, while a ship and a shield can be found on the exterior of the church. These examples are easy to spot but honestly, visiting any church with medieval origins will usually net something, even if it's just part of a hexafoil or an unintelligble scribble meant as a trap for evil.
Look out for traces of burns or scorch marks on wooden features too. These often turn out to be what are commonly referred to as “taper burns”, where somebody has singed the wood with a church taper as part of some personal ritual. The name is yet another generalisation as in reality any sort of flame could have been used to produce the mark. We tend to see them in groups and their exact meaning cannot be confirmed, but they are deliberate and therefore must have some intent behind them. Perhaps they are the result of sympathetic magic, where the desired result of a ritual is enacted in miniature, a spiritual vaccine if you like, to protect the building from a fire.
Finally, one more mark to look out for is the scratch dial, a roughly etched imitation of a mass or tidal dial. These were a kind of sundial installed on the south side of churches to keep priests, monks and the congregation up to speed with the exact time so that services could be performed promptly, with the scratch dial being a layman's copy with a hole bored in its centreto take a peg to cast a shadow. They may have actually served as mass dials or were copies scratched out for some other purpose.
I drew on the books, articles, presentations and videos of Mathew Champion, Wayne Perkins, Brian Hoggard, Prof Ronald Hutton and Charles Fairey for this article.
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