Circles and daisy-wheels
Overlapping circles from Harvington Hall, Worcestershire.
Several types of symbols can be found engraved onto wood, stone or plaster for protection purposes. One of the most commonly encountered of these is the plain old circle. My interpretation of these is that the circle is the simplest depiction of the sun, so placing it somewhere would symbolically bring sunlight, dispelling darkness. There is also lots of folklore which suggests that witches abhor circles as there are no corners for them to hide in. While this bit of folklore is fairly simplistic it does convey much about how people felt dark forces could lurk menacingly in dark corners.
My interpretation about the circle bringing light is something which also applies to daisy-wheels and I think a similar idea was at work with deliberate burn marks too.
In this image you can see multiple carved circles on a blocked up doorway at Harvington Hall in Worcestershire. This doorway formerly led to another wing of the building, now gone. It is not unusual to find methods of magical house protection applied to areas where part of a building has been lost or sealed off.
My interpretation about the circle bringing light is something which also applies to daisy-wheels and I think a similar idea was at work with deliberate burn marks too.
In this image you can see multiple carved circles on a blocked up doorway at Harvington Hall in Worcestershire. This doorway formerly led to another wing of the building, now gone. It is not unusual to find methods of magical house protection applied to areas where part of a building has been lost or sealed off.
From cloister wall at Tewkesbury Abbey.
Another type of mark is the daisy-wheel. This is a compass-drawn circle with six petals within it and it appears on buildings and on furniture throughout Britain. They seem to have originated as a solar symbol which could dispel darkness. These 'daisy wheels' can be found throughout the world.
In Romania they are still used on gateposts, in America they were used on many early gravestones, they were used on funerary monuments throughout early Europe and can be found in places as varied as Mexico, north Africa, Scandinavia, Russia and even North Korea.
In Romania they are still used on gateposts, in America they were used on many early gravestones, they were used on funerary monuments throughout early Europe and can be found in places as varied as Mexico, north Africa, Scandinavia, Russia and even North Korea.
Tretower Court, Wales. These marks are now covered with wall hangings I believe.
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Daisy-wheel with concentric circles, Tewkesbury Abbey.
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Brian Hoggard, Magical House Protection - The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft, Berghahn, 2019.
Brian Hoggard and Alicia Jessup, ‘Llancaiach Fawr Manor: Fortified Against Evil’, The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings Magazine, Autumn 2017 , pp51-5.
Timothy Easton, ‘Scribed and Painted Symbols’, in Paul Oliver (ed), Vernacular Architecture of the World, 1997/8 (four vols), CUP.
Timothy Easton, ‘Ritual Marks on Historic Timber’, Weald and Downland Open Air Museum Magazine, Spring 1999, pp22-30.
Brian Hoggard, 'The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic', in Owen Davies & Willem de Blecourt, Beyond the Witch-Trials, 2004, Manchester University Press, pp167-186.
Dean, J & Hill, N. 2014, 'Burn Marks on Buildings: Accidental or Deliberate', in Vernacular Architecture, vol 45, 1-15.