They have puzzled historians for years – but the true meaning of the ‘witches’ marks’ on the walls of old English buildings has finally been revealed.
The marks – often referred to as daisy wheels or hexafoils – can be found inside medieval churches and houses across the country.
Experts have previously suggested that they were ritual protection symbols, or that they have ‘mystical’ meanings.
Now, Professor Jennifer Alexander, a professor of architectural history at Warwick University and author of Stonemasons’ Marks, has set the record straight.
She claims that the marks are simply scribbles left on the walls by stonemasons working on the buildings.
‘Do you remember at school when you were first given a pair of compasses and you made a daisy wheel? It’s that,’ Professor Alexander told the Guardian.
‘There are hundreds of such marks and they tend to be [of] varying degrees of skill.
‘It’s much more the sort of thing you’d use to train apprentices with, giving them skills in using tools on intractable surfaces like stone.’
They have puzzled historians for years – but the true meaning of the ‘witches’ marks’ on the walls of old English buildings has finally been revealed
The marks – often referred to as daisy wheels or hexafoils – can be found inside medieval churches and houses across the country
According to a previous survey carried out by Historic England, these mysterious symbols are common across England.
‘The most common mark recorded is the hexafoil, or daisy wheel, which range from the straightforward singletons to complex interlinked multiple examples,’ it explained.
‘According to the public’s responses, they occur across the whole of England and on a variety of buildings from the medieval to the 19th century, including in houses, farm buildings and churches.
‘It is of course impossible to be certain of the date of the marks but there are certainly much later examples, on 19th century buildings, than expected.’
In 2024, English Heritage volunteer, Rick Berry, discovered several circular carvings at Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, and suggested that they may have had mystical meanings.
‘Simple circles that seem to be missing the internal six–petal design of a daisy wheel or a hexafoil are among the marks found by Mr Berry. These were believed to trap demons,’ English Heritage explained at the time.
Now, Professor Alexander has poured cold water on this theory, and says there’s ‘absolutely no evidence’ they were witches’ marks.
Instead, she claims the geometric designs were simply left by stonemasons testing out their patterns.
Professor Jennifer Alexander claims that the marks are simply scribbles left on the walls by stonemasons working on the buildings
According to a previous survey carried out by Historic England, these mysterious symbols are common across England
‘The daisy wheels are practices for drawing on stone and learning how to use compasses with straight edges to do geometry,’ she explained.
‘If you’re drawing a circle with a pair of compasses, you get three–quarters the way round and it’s very difficult to make a nice clean line because your wrist is upside down.
‘When you’re doing it on paper, it’s bad enough.
‘When you’re doing it on stone, it’s even harder.
‘So people have to be trained.’
The news comes shortly after scientists debunked the famous Cottingley Fairies photos.
Over 100 years ago, two young girls released the series of five images appearing to show fairies at the bottom of their aunt’s garden in Cottingley, West Yorkshire.
The infamous photographs were published in The Strand magazine by none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who said the images, if proven to be real, would ‘mark an epoch in human thought’.
Towards the end of their lives Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths admitted faking the first four photographs – although Ms Griffiths always maintained the fifth and final picture was genuine.
However, scientists from the University of Bradford analysed the cameras, and found nothing untoward.
Professor Andrew Wilson, of the University of Bradford, said: ‘Of course, we didn’t find any fairies but I think we did find a little bit of magic – in that these scanners show how we can now look inside objects without disturbing them and see a level of detail that is unsurpassed.’
