Heritage Talk & Workshop

Medieval Graffiti: The Lost Voices of England’s Churches with Matthew Champion

DATES & TIMES

Medieval Graffiti Talk: 8:30pm Friday 6 September

Medieval Graffiti Workshop: 1:00pm Saturday 7 September

SUMMARY

Discover the mysterious world of medieval church graffiti: join expert Matthew Champion, author of Medieval Graffiti: The Lost Voices of England’s Churches, for a special talk and workshop on this fascinating subject.

DETAILS

During our Friday evening talk, Matthew will discuss the different forms of graffiti, the meaning of the marks and the historical context in which they were made.

During Saturday’s practical workshop, you will learn how to discover and interpret graffiti in your own church building by looking at examples that have recently been discovered in St Mary Redcliffe.

ABOUT MATTHEW CHAMPION

Matthew J. Champion is an award winning freelance buildings archaeologist and historian, who has worked for clients such as Historic England, The Natuional Trust, and the Churches Coservation Trust.

He is also an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and advisor on historical graffiti to a number of national and international organisations.

BACKGROUND

Today graffiti is often seen as something that is destructive and anti-social, and certainly not something that we would want to encourage in historic buildings or churches. However, this attitude is a relatively modern one. Prior to the nineteenth century the evidence is that leaving your mark inscribed into the stones of your local church was perfectly acceptable – and carried out by individual from all levels of society. Everyone from the lord of the manor and parish priest, right down to the lowliest commoner, appear to have had no issues with carving graffiti into the very stones of the church.

And those very same stones tell us some strange tales. Here are outlandish medieval beasts, knights battling unseen dragons, ships sailing across lime-washed oceans and demons who stalk the walls. Latin prayers for the dead jostle with medieval curses, builders’ accounts and slanderous comments concerning a long-dead archdeacon. Strange and complex geometric designs, created to ward off the ‘evil eye’ and thwart the works of the devil, share church pillars with the heraldic shields of England’s medieval nobility. Today archaeologists are recording many thousands of previously unknown medieval inscriptions, and in the process revealing a long forgotten hidden history of the medieval parish church. These inscriptions are telling us about the people who lived and worshipped in the magnificent buildings, and reawakening the lost voices of England’s past.

TICKETS

Tickets for the Friday talk and Saturday workshop cost £5.00 each or you can purchase a combined ticket for £10.00