Historic Graffiti

What is graffiti?  That was the question thrown out to us at the start of the talk.  It is writing or art in a public area carried out without permission was one answer.  It’s unwanted was another but whatever we said was thrown back at us e.g. is Banksy’s work graffiti?  It’s carried out without permission but if it was done on the side of your house your house would rocket in value!  Our conclusion was that it’s actually very difficult to define what is and isn’t graffiti.

The first picture we were shown was in medieval Latin in a church in Leicester.  Initially written by the priest at the time of the Black Death (1349) it was followed up a few years later recording hurricanes which had hit the country bringing death and destruction to an already traumatised population.  It was the immediacy of the writing that is so important.  This wasn’t written in a history book or a diary some time later.  This was one educated person’s immediate reaction to two awful acts of God.

In Carlisle castle there are some remarkable examples from the Wars of the Roses (1455- 1487) which are carved in base relief, a more difficult and skilled operation.

The message to us was, keep your eyes open as you wander around old buildings, particularly the altars of old churches and cathedrals but any old building may reveal interesting images.

Thank you Colin for a most engaging and interesting talk.