Witch marks

Etched into the woodwork of the Tudor House fire surround are a series of witch marks. Despite their name, witch marks have very little to do with witches or witch craft. The markings are believed to have turned away evil, providing protection to the building and those who lived or worked within it. A common form of witch marking is overlapping V’s known as marian marks and this is what we seem to have in Tudor House. The overlapping V’s are believed to be the initials of the Virgin Mary. It is thought that these marks were invocations to the Virgin Mary to protect the site where the marks were to be found. They tend to date from the medieval period onwards