Chris had recently been on the graffiti tour at Lincoln Cathedral, so he was happy to show me some of the graffiti he found. As humans, we seem to need to leave our mark in some way and these images are left in the Cathedral stone work. There were a lot of names, such as Thomas Robinson, above.
There were also some circular patterns.
I like the extra decoration on R Cook's name.
This isn't graffiti - it is the chisel marks on the stone, but it fascinated me.
This made me smile - someone had added an extra 'e' to John Skelton's name, making him John Skeleton!
There were some images of ships. This one has three masts.
This carving was on the wall of a tomb and says John Bunch, with 'Singing Boy' underneath. Chris said the guide thought he might have been a choir member at some time.
A more complex ship.
I wonder who Josiah was?
Was this from 1671?
Can I spot John Bunch again? This time he is accompanied by Peter Lely in 1756 and some others who were here in 1697. These carvings were also above a tomb.
RW from 1732. I wonder how long it took to carve initials or a name?
1698 was the date for this one.
Nathaniel Jackson obviously had the time to carve all of his name.
John Whaley from what looks like 1576 had time to create some lovely decorative patterns on his name.
John added some impressive swirls too.
Even though we don't know who these people were, they will be remembered for as long as the cathedral is standing, assuming you know where to look to find their names. It was fascinating to see them all.
Looking at the Cathedral across the new garden for the Visitors' Centre, I liked the way the colour of the grasses echoed the colour of the limestone. I really enjoyed my visit.
Looking at the Cathedral across the new garden for the Visitors' Centre, I liked the way the colour of the grasses echoed the colour of the limestone. I really enjoyed my visit.
What interesting finds, makes you wonder who they were and why they carved their names, and how they did the carvings without being caught xcx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chrissie. They must have been there regularly and sitting around for quite a while at a time. Something to do during a boring sermon, perhaps?!
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie
How fascinating, thank you so much for sharing. I love that you can do a graffiti tour of a cathedral! I do love these small snippets of social history, if only the stone could talk, the stories they could tell would be so interesting. Thank you again Ellie for this really fascinating post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, sustainablemum. You are very welcome - I was fascinated to see all these carvings which would be easily missed on a visit (unless you knew where to look!)
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie
What a fine cathedral Lincoln has. Love your graffiti details - the equivalent of 'woz 'ere' back then ;) When I used to visit Lincoln with work, there used to be a fab Portuguese vegetarian restaurant, hmmm, I wonder if it is still there... xXx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lulu. It is a beautiful Cathedral and seeing all the graffiti was surprising and fascinating. I haven't heard of a Portuguese vegetarian restaurant in Lincoln, but I don't get out that much!
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie
I always wonder why people feel the need to destroy property that's not there's. Graffiti is a nuisance. So many historical venues nowdays watch people like a hawk to try and prevent destruction. The Cathedral is very cool. Nice photo's!
ReplyDeleteSandy's Space
Thanks, Sandy. I agree that graffiti out on the streets can be a real nuisance and can look horrible. However, this particular graffiti is so old and unless you know where to look, it doesn't detract from the beautiful stone in the Cathedral. It is a lovely building.
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie