Curses found scratched into the walls of Norwich Cathedral

Members of the Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey uncovered the ominous messages after carrying out a study of the Norman building during the summer.

Names written upside down and symbols drawn back to front suggest the place of worship has been used to wish ill fortune on people as far back as the 1400s.

Names etched upside-down into the stone such as this one are believed to act as curses (Image: Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey) Matthew Champion, project director, said: "The building is quite literally covered in graffiti and many of the examples we discovered are of extremely high quality, far better than we could ever have hoped for.

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"The initial results have been very encouraging and we have made a number of superb discoveries including ships, names, animals, windmills, figures and prayers."

Among the discoveries made so far are several late medieval inscriptions that appear to be upside-down.

Graffiti from the 1400s to the 1800s has been documented and surveyed (Image: Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey) It was initially suggested that they had been carved into the stones before being installed upside-down by mistake but Matthew and his team said it was more likely the inscriptions were meant to act as curses.

"It is thought that these were meant to bring ill fortune to the subject," he said. 

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"If we have prayers carved into the walls then I can see no reason why we shouldn't also have curses too."

Despite the reputation of graffiti today, it was regarded differently in the medieval period and many of the etchings could have been made with the cathedral authority's blessing. 

Names, places and even music have been carved into the Cathedral walls over the centuries (Image: Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey) "Although it was a place of spirituality it appears that prayer and religion then were much more hands-on," Matthew added.

"These people saw nothing wrong with carving their prayers into the very stones of the building."

The project, undertaken by volunteers, is one of the first surveys of its type to be carried out anywhere in England, with modern technology and specialist lighting being used to reveal markings that cannot be seen otherwise.  

Norwich Cathedral is awash with medieval graffiti, surveyors have said (Image: Newsquest)