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The villages and towns around Henely-in-Arden possess an array of unique churches and surviving medieval buildings. Surveys undertaken by the author have recorded a fascinating corpus of medieval and historic graffiti (including compass-drawn circles, ‘Marian’ marks, memorials and devotional graffiti) which will be discussed in this illustrated talk.Many of the marks are so-called ‘ritual protection marks’ – also known as ‘apotropaics’ (from the Greek, ‘to turn away evil’) - whose purpose was to defend the buildings against evil spirits and to confer good luck.
The talk will begin with a study of the medieval buildings within the area, then expand the discussion to compare the corpus of graffiti with regional, national and international examples. The re-evaluation of medieval graffiti has revealed many more subtleties and diverse meanings than hitherto imagined.
Illustrated talk by W. Perkins (BA), ACIfA.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Henley in Arden Baptist Church Hall, Baptist Church Hall, Hainault Road, London, E11 1, United Kingdom,London, United Kingdom, Leytonstone
