Abstract
Recent large scale surveys of medieval churches throughout England, albeit initially focussed upon East Anglia, have brought to light a mass of previously unrecorded graffiti inscriptions.1 Although survey work continues, and is likely to do so for a number of years yet to come, the work already undertaken represents the first systematic and large scale survey of early graffiti inscriptions undertaken in the UK. Although previous surveys had been carried out, most notably that which formed the basis of Violet Pritchard’s 1967 work, English Medieval Graffiti, these tended to focus upon a small number of site specific studies.2 The new surveys, largely undertaken by volunteers, are enabling us to examine graffiti inscriptions within a far wider context, demonstrating just how widespread the phenomena once was and bringing together, for the first time, an almost entirely new corpus of medieval material.
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Notes
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Champion, M. (2015). Magic on the Walls: Ritual Protection Marks in the Medieval Church. In: Hutton, R. (eds) Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137444820_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137444820_2
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