On the eve of All Saints’ Day, representatives of the State Commission for Historic Buildings and Monuments of England announced a unique find: on the walls of a house built in the late Middle Ages, they discovered dozens of symbols, often called “”. Witch marks in folklore”. But in reality they have nothing to do with witches.
Gainsborough Old Hall is located in the east of England and is one of the best-preserved late medieval estates in Britain (other than royal estates). It was built by Sir Thomas Burgh in 1460.
The Burgov family was rich and noble, and also quite defensively capable – they had to defend their land from greedy neighbors many times. King Henry VIII visited Gainsborough Old Hall twice. He visited the manor for the first time in 1509 and the second time in 1542 with his fifth wife, Queen Catherine Howard.
After her stay at Gainsborough, the queen was accused of adultery and executed. We do not know whether this was due to Henry VIII meeting Catherine Parr, widow of Edward Burgh (granddaughter of the founder of Gainsborough), on the estate. However, three years later she became his sixth and last wife.
Later the estate passed to the Hickman merchant family from London and is now considered a state monument. Its exterior has changed little over the past centuries: this tall building with a tower in the northeast corner. A common hall with a folding roof and the most complete medieval kitchen in Britain have been preserved.
Organization employees English Heritage (England’s Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission) The signs drawn or painted on the interior and exterior walls of the building attracted attention. For two years, they mapped the locations of these signs and tried to understand their meaning.
Most of the signs are in the maid’s wing. But some are drawn in the great hall of Gainsborough Old Hall. Researchers found a small pentagram on the wall of the great hall, clearly associated with the imposition of a curse.
Next to the pentagram the name “Hickman” (owner of the property since 1596) is inverted, which means that he is the object of magical influence. The practice of distorting the name when casting spells was common in Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, but English Heritage Such spells were not found before (Middle Ages and later).
But still, the main part of the found graffiti and reliefs are the so-called witch marks, which, unlike the pentagram curse, do not symbolize any evil influence. These are usually circles with hexagonal leaves inside – traps for demons.
Such traps were apotropaic symbols of protective magic (Greek for “to return”). These signs are believed to ward off or ward off evil. Despite the name (witches), they were supposed to protect the inhabitants of the estate from witches, demons and curses.
Some apotropaic signs are often viewed by ethnographers as a form of sympathetic magic; for example, ritual heating of a newly constructed building protects it from fire and lightning strike: literally “fighting fire with fire”. More than a hundred such “burns” were found on the walls of Gainsborough Old Hall – the owners wanted to protect themselves from fires.
Apparently apotropaic magic was common in British society at the time. Researchers find its symbols not only in old houses, but even on the walls of Christian churches, starting from the Middle Ages and almost until the end of modern times.
In 2019, archaeologists discovered hundreds of witch marks on the walls of a cave system in the East Midlands (Central England), where hermits lived. Apparently even Christian priests believed that there was no such thing as too much protection from evil.
Source: Port Altele
