Medieval graffiti...
Charles and I went to visit a new client this afternoon and, it being a Friday afternoon, I stopped on the way back at the Church of St Andrew in Sevenhampton.
I always find a church's porch to be its most interesting place and Cotswold Church's with their soft limestone are great repositories.
In this one I found an 'apotropaic' mark, which comes from the Greek word apotropaios which is translated "as turning away (evil)." (2nd image)
In the 3rd image you can see a scratch dial (top right) which is a medieval sun dial used to indicate the times of liturgical services.
Also in the 3rd image to the bottom left is a better known 19th century benchmark. The horizontal line shows a known level, while the arrow just means it's government property - the same reason prisoners had arrows on their clothing apparently.
The 4th image shows some classic chevrons which betray the church's Norman / Romanesque origins which allows us to date it originally to about 1100 - 1200.
Finally in the 5th image are the remains of what might be a wall painting which I suppose may have been lost during the reformation...
Anyway - it's interesting what you can find in a half hour wonder.
