In terms of medieval graffiti
there are certain churches that are simply legendary. Churches that are just so
damned good that they have become a Mecca for graffiti hunters everywhere.
Places where you would fight hostile churchwardens and evangelical happy-slappy
guitar playing vicars simply to be allowed to step over the threshold. These
are the GREAT graffiti churches. The churches such as Lidgate, Blakeney and
Bedingham. However, all these amazing churches pale into insignificance at the
mention of one particular church. It's very name makes graffiti hunters go weak
at the knees and dribble to leak from the corners of the mouth in anticipation.
It is the cream of graffiti churches, the best of the best. The one graffiti
church that has been subject to intense study - and it is Ashwell in
Hertfordshire.
I'm a contrary sod at the best of
times. You say black and I will invariably say white. It isn't really just to
disagree with you - more just to see what the reaction will be. A bit like
licking you fingers and then sticking them in a power socket. You know it's
wrong - but can't help wondering just what will happen (2nd degree burns as it
turns out). Or the time I experimented with using gun powder as a deterrent for
moles - all in the interests of healthy experimentation and being a contrary
bugger. The mole experiment, just in case you want to try this at home, wasn't
a great success. However, I did learn that it was possible to sleep through the
night with your hand in a bucket of cold water. Right... where was I? Ah, yes,
Ashwell church. Well, here's the thing, if somebody tells me that a church is
THE greatest graffiti church in England then I will immediately take such a
statement with a really, really big pinch of salt. I will, to be blunt, blow
raspberries in their general direction and assume that they don't know what the
hell they are talking about. Sure, Ashwell might be good - but have they been
to Lidgate? To Blakeney? To Bedingham?
So, finally, this week I went to
Ashwell. I have been before, but that was many years ago - before I really knew
what I was looking at - so a return trip was in order. I had to go across to
Oxford earlier this week to give a lecture at the university (I know, I know...
it isn't Cambridge - but beggars can't be choosers etc) and Ashwell was sort of
on the way. Give or take.
So there I was, camera and torch
in hand, faced by what the world has come to think of as the 'great' medieval
graffiti church. I had about an hour to wander round and, if I was lucky,
should get in a good deal of sneering and bad comparisons in that time. I
ventured inside...
Ok. So it is good. One of the
best. Actually quite superb... Holy crap I was shaking after ten minutes of
running a torch across the surface of the stone walls! It was, not to put too
fine a point upon it, immense. Just about every single surface I looked at was
covered in a mass of early graffiti. The tower, the piers, the western wall -
everywhere. Layer upon layer of inscriptions and symbols. I was, quite simply,
in graffiti OMG heaven. Here's the thing. Ashwell IS the best known graffiti
church, and certainly the most extensively written about. It has been studied
by Hine, Coulton and Sherlock, and had TV archaeologists and historians crawling
through its nave. However, they've all been getting terribly excited for
completely the wrong reasons.
Ashwell is really known for the
massive number of medieval text inscriptions to be found in the church - and it
does contain a really unusually high number of early Latin inscriptions. They
range from the inscription in the tower, which records the arrival of the Black
Death in this small Hertfordshire village, to a tiny inscription in the south
aisle which records the peasants revolt. There are texts of moralising verse -
and Latin insults describing the Archdeacon as 'an ass'. There are excerpts
from the bible and comments upon the quality of the mason's workmanship. You
name it - it's there - and they are wonderful. However, the text inscriptions,
all of which are open to interpretation, are a tiny, tiny fragment of what else
is there. Probably less than 1%.
Ashwell church is full of early
graffiti. Images of people, faces, buildings, animals and ritual protection
marks galore. 'vv' markings cover one side of the tower arch, compass drawn
designs are everywhere - and a hand raised in the act of blessing adorns the
pier at the eastern end of the south aisle. Wherever you look there are
devotional markings; the hopes, fears and dreams of the medieval congregation
etched deep in to the walls of the parish church. The text inscriptions are
good too - but they are an embellishment. The gilding of the lily. Even without
them, and their multiple and enigmatic interpretations, Ashwell would still be
a jewel in the crown of graffiti studies everywhere.
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