The Building Conservation Directory 2022

130 T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 2 2 C AT H E D R A L C O MM U N I C AT I O N S being readily available, portable, and very convenient to apply. Those identifying as street artists might aspire to the status of their more famous counterparts, like Banksy or Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work has won public recognition and has featured in international art exhibitions. However, public perception of what passes for street art versus unwanted graffiti varies widely. The boundary between street art and graffiti may sometimes seem difficult to define, but in legal terms any work carried out on a building without the property owner’s consent is illegal. In general, art works (murals) designed for a specific location and applied with the owner’s consent can be readily distinguished from graffiti that has been applied without consent as an act of vandalism. The latter, unwanted graffiti, is widely perceived, and classified in law, as a manifestation of anti-social behaviour and a form of criminal damage. It has been widely observed that once graffiti appears it tends to proliferate, like litter. Consequently, graffiti removal is often attempted in haste, to prevent further attacks. Unfortunately, attempting removal without sufficient understanding and resources can further disfigure vulnerable historic building surfaces. GRAFFITI OF HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE In parallel with the increase in unwanted and randomly applied graffiti, awareness of historic graffiti has grown in recent years, and the significance of previously overlooked or misinterpreted marks increasingly recognised. Among graffiti of historic interest are characteristic marks etched into masonry and other building surfaces, and on rock faces in caves and quarries, which have often been previously misinterpreted as evidence for tool sharpening or vandalism and are now understood to be marks invoking protection against evil or misfortune. These are referred to as ritual protection marks, and sometimes described as ‘witch marks’ or apotropaic marks. These include black burn or scorch marks on timber. Diagonal lines, boxes, mazes, and mesh marks, thought to represent ‘spirit traps’, were often inscribed at openings, near windows, doors and fireplaces. Recent study and media reports have cast light on the extent and significance of these marks at sites such as the caves at Creswell Crags, near Sheffield. Two very common types of protective mark are the daisy wheel (or hexafoil), inscribed with a compass, and the double V (VV mark), which sometimes appears in inverted form, resembling a splayed, inverted M. The double V is understood to be an invocation of the Virgin Mary, often referred to as a Marian mark. Some scholars point out that very similar geometric marks or symbols appeared much earlier, pre-Christianity, in prehistoric cave art across Europe. Ritual protection marks are common in caves, such as those at Creswell Crags, in mines, and on historic buildings of all types, ecclesiastical, domestic, vernacular and military, up to the 19th century. They provide a window on the views of people who are under-represented in the historical record, whose beliefs and thoughts appear infrequently in written documents and other material evidence. Recent reports of previously hidden or undetected historic graffiti of various types have highlighted the potential for illuminating discoveries. Prominent among these is the discovery of a concealed and blocked passageway at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster where graffiti pencilled on the walls by the 19th century builders included the following: ‘These masons were employed refacing these groines… [ie repairing the cloister] August 11th 1851 Real Democrats.’ (Real Democrats were part of the suffrage Chartist movement, which called for reforms to allow every man from the age of 21 to have a vote, and for would-be MPs to stand even if they had no property.) Repair work and alterations that normally accompany the redevelopment of historic buildings are likely to expose historic graffiti on previously concealed or inaccessible surfaces. It is important that such evidence of the past is not overlooked, potentially lost, or destroyed. Unfortunately, historic building owners more typically face the challenge of removing unwanted graffiti than the exciting discovery of new graffiti of historic interest. The Greta Thunberg mural on the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, painted in 2019 by Jody Thomas, is an example of street art designed for a specific site and executed with the building owner’s consent.