Hiding in plain sight: The secret world of graffiti

There are three main types of graffiti, antisocial works that daub public areas, works of art like Banksy's and graffiti art produced in quiet spaces away from the public view or on designated walls.

It is possible that you have walked next to the latter and even admired its grandeur, its style, mix of colours and sardonic humour, however we often ignore it because we assume that graffiti is an act of vandalism produced to desecrate.

And yet there is a place in Leighton where another form of graffiti has been welcomed; a strangely haunting form and one that gives us a rare glimpse of a forgotten past.That place is All Saints Church -a building where you might least expect to see graffiti. Medieval church graffiti is a feature of many churches throughout the East and All Saints has some exceptional examples. The medieval 'graffiti artists' would not have been able to write so it is a very rare place where we can gain an insight into the lives of ordinary people who lived here 600 years ago. Modern day graffiti tends to be created by men, in contrast a certain proportion of medieval church graffiti was drawn by women thus making it even more interesting because female voices from the distant past are not often heard.

There are over eighty graffiti inscriptions and there is no evidence that this activity was banned. Ordinary people left their own 'markers' in the form of a personal sign or 'tag'. In fact medieval churches were often very vibrant colourful places. Graffiti would have been carved into bright pigments; far from being hidden they were often a creative feature of the church. Some images produced centuries ago were then embellished over time.

Modern and medieval graffiti gives a platform for 'artists' to express themselves, often these images reflected their personal experiences, perhaps both were created by people who felt disenfranchised. Church graffiti does not tell stories of pomp but rather it speaks of simple hopes. We see tales of grief and loss, love and humour, devotion and fear of damnation. In contrast to the more formalised art in the church the ‘art’ work represents a staggeringly humble yet beautiful message sent to us from our ancestors. A careful look at the most famous image - that of a well to do wimple wearing woman in full medieval dress possibly feeding a man with a spoon shows a full length carefully drawn image of a women being active. This is a strangely domestic image and, rather like Banksy’s work, demonstrates a degree of humour.

You might think it is impossible to identify who wrote those messages and to understand what was being said, however two of the graffiti shields can be identified as belonging to the Saint Leger and Botelers family. We know that Ann Boteler married James Saint Leger around 1485. This graffiti may have been a declaration of love sent to us from the past but also, perhaps, a political statement as both families were very powerful, the Saint Legers owned Luton Hoo.