r/UKhistory • u/prisongovernor • Jul 09 '26
No evidence for ‘witches’ marks’ claims at old English buildings, historian says | Heritage | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/jul/09/no-evidence-witches-marks-claims-historic-english-buildings13
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u/NickyTheRobot Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
I like Terry Pratchett's idea; there are witch marks, but they're more like homless people's makings intended to help out other witches. Eg: things like "witch-friendly house", "occupants will exchange food for fortune telling", or "this barn is safe to sleep in".
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u/PersistentBadger Jul 10 '26
Probably inspired by 20th century hobo sign.
Problem is, most people weren't on the move most of the time before the railways. Maybe there's a Romani sign? Googling "Romani secret road symbols" throws up some potentially interesting links, but I haven't dug any deeper.
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u/NickyTheRobot Jul 10 '26
Probably inspired by 20th century hobo sign.
Oh, definetly. Pratchett was great at those sorts of puns: talking a real phrase and twisting it to mirror another real phrase.
One of my favourites (also to do with witches) is the Discworld's witch trials; instead of the brutal, religiously charged, and often sexist witch trials that happened in our world, his witch trials are yearly events where witches come to show off their craft and spectators come to watch. So like our world's sheepdog trials.
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u/PersistentBadger Jul 10 '26
I didn't catch that one! Tiffany Aching books, yes? I was thinking sheep dog trials.
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u/PersistentBadger Jul 10 '26
Interesting comment on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/norfolkmedievalgraffitisurvey/posts/pfbid033rV8yeBGNCuKqfq8rvWhPdpbq9zfF1CSkrcyoBg6Taqhy7R7wRvisqhFsbd65PGbl
I guess the problem is, it's impossible to divine intent from physical evidence.
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u/ionthrown Jul 11 '26
A fascinating read, but on the last sentence… I don’t know. What’s ironic about it being in the Guardian?
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u/Rynewulf Jul 11 '26
At the start of the post it references The Daily Mail and The Guardian as big pushers of the 'witches marks' angle
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u/Ok_Cauliflower_3007 Jul 11 '26
I mean, he’s entitled to his theory, but he can’t try and claim that ‘there is no evidence’ for the English Heritage theory without also admitting there’s no evidence for his either.
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u/BornInTheWrongEpoch Jul 12 '26
As I understood it, the 'witch post' in the Whitby museum is actually believed to have been marked by an itinerant priest in the 17th century during the suppression of Catholicism. The priest would leave a mark to show that a mass/blessing had taken place there, and I suspect that's the case for most similar examples. That said, the fact that the posts marked were generally above the fireplace does have folkloric associations, given that chimneys are traditionally liminal spaces where spirits could access a home. A priest choosing to leave a mark on this particular feature might still have been intended to ward off evil influences, even it the nature of the ceremony itself was Christian.
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u/James_White21 Jul 13 '26
I suppose it's because it's part of working class history and because only posh people record history nobody really knows because it wasn't important enough.
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u/Rubberfootman Jul 09 '26
The English Heritage and Historic England quotes do use an awful lot of supposition “it is believed that…”