Ep 13: Medieval Graffiti ft. Matthew Champion

The Sense of Place Podcast

I am sure most of you reading this have visited a cathedral or church at some point in your life. Ancient, majestic, sacred – not the kind of place you would find covered in graffiti. Well, turns out that this is not the case! As you shall find out in today's episode with Matthew Champion.

Matthew is an archaeologist, heritage consultant and most importantly a medieval graffiti expert. During our conversation I find out how Matt got into researching medieval graffiti and how he began the Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey. We discuss when people started to see graffiti as a form of vandalism - contrary to it being a completely normal part of medieval life. We also touch on how graffiti helps us relate to people of the past, and what kinds of tools they used to create their marks. Finally, we explore the different types of ritualistic graffiti (holy signs), charms, and curses, as well as Matt’s favourite pieces of graffiti he has found over the years.

(Recorded June 2020)

Episode Extras: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-extras-39091387