19 May 2026

How do people really behave in church?  It’s not always in the way the clergy and architects who plan the buildings might have intended!  Our speaker in May was Claire Strachan, who works for the Diocese of Coventry advising churchwardens and PCCs on the maintenance of the historic structures in their care.  Claire is fascinated by the apparently insignificant markings in these buildings – the “small things forgotten” that give clues about what past congregations actually did and how they thought.

May of these signs are in the form of graffiti, which is frowned on now but was more acceptable in the past: there are even examples engraved by the vicar himself!  Perhaps the most familiar form of graffiti is commemorative, with a name or initials, often accompanied by a date.  These are mostly from the 17^th century onwards, when more people became literate and there was more focus on individualism.  The dates seem to cluster in periods of uncertainty, such as times of war, disease or bad harvests.

Another type of graffiti comprises devotional signs, such as crosses or “Marian marks”, which are overlapping V V symbols that represent the Virgin Mary.  These signs could be used to ask for divine aid or protection.  They are sometimes difficult to distinguish from “apotropaic” markings, which were specifically used for protection against evil spirits.  One common marking is the daisy-wheel design of overlapping circles, which can be created with a pair of compasses or even sheep shears.  Apparently, demons would become trapped going round and round them so would be prevented from harming the congregation!  A similar idea might be behind a drawing of the church, a house or the outline of a person’s hand or shoe: the devil would be drawn to the image instead of attacking the building or the person themselves.  Such marks are often found near doors and windows where the devil would be most likely to gain access.

On a lighter note, gaming boards – especially for Nine Men’s Morris – can sometimes be found.  They are most common on benches in the porch, where people probably spent a lot of time waiting or sheltering, but they can be on other flat surfaces such as windowsills.  In Shepshed there is a nice example on the seat of a pew, which would originally have been positioned behind a pillar to be hidden from the pulpit!

Before the widespread adoption of clocks and watches, rural life was marked out by the chiming of the church bell for services.  But how did the sexton know when to ring the bell?  He might have used a “scratch dial”, which is a simple sundial that you can often find on the south side of the church, close to the door into the chancel.  Other parallel scratches on the stonework are often said to be the result of sharpening arrows during archery practice but this is unlikely for several reasons.  Instead, it probably shows where people scraped dust from the sacred building to add potency to medical treatments.  Keep your eyes peeled for these and other examples!