Making our mark
When historic St Michael’s Church in Alnwick discovered their belltower roof was leaking, they discovered over 250 years’ worth of graffiti carved into the old roofing lead. It seems to have been de rigeur to leave your mark if you were up there on church business!
While this kind of graffiti isn’t unusual, St Michael’s collection is significant for its variety. There are over 400 signatures, initials, hands, feet, figures, ships, birds, buildings, patterns (and a few things I inevitably can’t list here!) When the roof was replaced, the graffiti was catalogued and the best examples retained for display.
It has been a pleasure working with the church team to put together a family-friendly display to complement the lovely new wooden graffiti display and storage case in the church. The free exhibition sheds light on the significance of the graffiti and the colourful stories it tells about the people of Alnwick over the last 250 years. There is even the opportunity to make your own ‘lead’ tile and leave your own mark. The church is rich with history, so design colleague Marcus Byron and I also created a leaflet to help visitors find other kinds of marks around the church and think about the wide range of people, skills and materials who have built and brought the building to life over the generations.
The exhibition opened at the end of September. Attendees to the preview evening included the town’s mayor (who enjoyed making a tile inspired by the design on his mayoral chain of office!) and a descendant of Thomas Patterson, 18th century parish clerk, who left his name and initials a number of times on the roof.
Read about the opening and see more images of the displays here: Historic graffiti at Alnwick church showcased in new exhibition
Leave a Reply