No evidence for ‘witches’ marks’ claims at old English buildings, historian says | Heritage
Over the years, English Heritage and Historic England have claimed to have identified numerous “witch marks” or “ritual protection symbols” on the walls of historic buildings, including medieval churches and houses.
A leading architectural historian said there was “absolutely no evidence” that these signs had anything to do with witches or any “mystical meaning”.
Daisy wheels or hexagonal petals are among the symbols that are nothing more than marks of stonemasons working on these buildings, according to Jennifer Alexander, professor of architectural history at the University of Warwick and author of a new study.
He told the Guardian: “Do you remember the first time you were given a pair of compasses at school and you made a daisy wheel? That’s it. There are hundreds of signs like this and they’re usually [of] varying degrees of skill. This is more the kind of thing you would use to train apprentices; “It gives them the ability to use tools on difficult surfaces like stone.”
He said such signs were “practical geometry” that was taught and tried. “Daisy wheels are exercises in drawing on stone and learning how to use straight-edged compasses to do geometry.”
Alexander mocked the description of them as “witch marks”, saying: “Anything that looks like a design on a stone building is now perceived as these damn things. There is absolutely no evidence that they were ever used in this way.”
English Heritage, the charity that deals with historical places, announced that the research will be carried out in 2024 as follows: Gainsborough Old Hall “A staggering array of carved ritual protection or apotropaic marks – sometimes called ‘witch’ marks – are the most commonly identified at any of our 400 sites” had been uncovered in Lincolnshire.
He added at the time: “Signs found include simple circles that appear to be missing the inner six-petaled design of the daisy wheel or hexagonal leaf… These were believed to trap demons. Others include overlapping Vs or Marian signs, believed by some to invoke the Virgin Mary for protection, and a pentagon, which despite modern connotations was originally used to ward off evil.”
in 2016 Historic EnglandThe public body, which advises the government and helps protect the historic environment, asked the public to look for signs of witches “dating back to times when belief in witchcraft and the supernatural was widespread.”
His website While he notes that witch marks, ritual protection symbols, or apotropaic signs have been found at many historical sites, he acknowledges that the significance of the hexagons is controversial.
“For example, the world of Wicca, a contemporary Pagan religious movement, sees these as solar motifs,” he says. “Another school of thought suggests that these were purely secular and may have been geometric exercises for apprentices… However, their interpretation as ritual signs of protection is currently the most widely accepted theory.”
Such symbols have been identified in the stonework of some of the largest barns, including the 14th-century barn at Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire.
Alexander said: “There is no evidence that these were witch marks. What we were told was that that barn was either a schoolroom or a bricklayer’s training workshop when it was not needed for farm produce.”
“There’s a lot of patterns on the walls there, and they vary greatly in skill. If you’re drawing a circle with a compass, you get three-quarters of the circle, and it’s very difficult to draw a nice, clean line because your wrist is upside down. It’s bad enough when you do it on paper. It’s even harder when you do it on stone. That’s why people need to be trained.”
He added: “There are things that protect against the evil eye, but they’re something more general… They’re parts of the mechanisms by which buildings are built… Signs that look like a capital W or M are mason’s codes. If you’re building something, they can help you put things in the right order. Or they can identify whose work it is.”
book of Alexander, Signs of the StonemasonsPublished by Routledge ahead of the International Medieval Congress in Leeds this week. It explores how signs are used and what they reveal about buildings and the people who built them.
Historic England said: “We welcome new research that will contribute to our understanding of these landmarks. The more we learn about them, the richer our picture of the people who built and used these places.”
English Heritage said: “We welcome debates like this that encourage new perspectives on the past and look forward to seeing where future research leads.”
