Mysterious graffiti left by Tower of London inmate 500 years ago is solved for first time
Lucia Botfield
Published December 3, 2024
Nowadays, the historic building is a popular tourist attraction (Picture: GC Images)
Graffiti scrawled on the walls of the Tower of London dating back centuries have finally been deciphered for the first time – including the magical ramblings of ‘sorcerers’
Hundreds of texts etched onto the walls of the historical building that once housed prisoners incarcerated for the most heinous of crimes have been studied by a group of historians researching the significant collections.
Lead researcher, Dr Jamie Ingram, is heading the ‘exciting’ major project, and began studying the Salt Tower on the south-eastern corner, which is part of the curtain wall built by Henry III in the 1230s.
The Salt Tower once imprisoned Hew Draper, who was an innkeeper from Bristol accused of practising sorcery.
Draper was housed in the tower in 1561, and carved an astrological sphere with zodiacal signs in his cell, despite claiming to have destroyed his magic books, The Guardian reports.
‘There were supposed to be 79 examples of graffiti there, according to the historic survey,’ Ingram told the Observer.
‘By the end of the survey that I conducted, there are 354.
‘Very fine viewing of the surface of the walls has allowed us to identify what else is there … acknowledging that every mark is important, rather than just those that have been left by the famous prisoners.’
Graffiti scrawled on the walls of the Tower of London dating back centuries have finally been deciphered for the first time – including the magical ramblings of ‘sorcerers’
Hundreds of texts etched onto the walls of the historical building that once housed prisoners incarcerated for the most heinous of crimes have been studied by a group of historians researching the significant collections.
Lead researcher, Dr Jamie Ingram, is heading the ‘exciting’ major project, and began studying the Salt Tower on the south-eastern corner, which is part of the curtain wall built by Henry III in the 1230s.
The Salt Tower once imprisoned Hew Draper, who was an innkeeper from Bristol accused of practising sorcery.
Draper was housed in the tower in 1561, and carved an astrological sphere with zodiacal signs in his cell, despite claiming to have destroyed his magic books, The Guardian reports.
‘There were supposed to be 79 examples of graffiti there, according to the historic survey,’ Ingram told the Observer.
‘By the end of the survey that I conducted, there are 354.
‘Very fine viewing of the surface of the walls has allowed us to identify what else is there … acknowledging that every mark is important, rather than just those that have been left by the famous prisoners.’
There are hundreds of inscriptions (Picture: Historic Royal Palaces)
The high profile fortress also held infamous prisoners such as the two princes, Edward V and Richard Duke of York, Anne Boleyn, her daughter Princess Elizabeth, and Guy Fawkes.
The research team are using technology such as raking light, laser scanning and X-ray analysis to decipher the inscriptions, which have never been used at the Tower before.
One of the passages seems to have been written by a woman, which is a groundbreaking revelation in their research.
Ingram said the note referred to a ‘husband’, as well as honours and rivers.
‘We haven’t got any specific records of female prisoners in that tower. This is possibly a woman’s voice, which is incredibly rare in the graffiti, and the first example we’ve got in the Salt Tower itself.
‘We know that there were women at the tower.
‘They’re just not represented in these physical first-person records.
‘This is a rare primary record of a woman’s presence, whether she’s a prisoner herself or the wife of the prisoner.’
The high profile fortress also held infamous prisoners such as the two princes, Edward V and Richard Duke of York, Anne Boleyn, her daughter Princess Elizabeth, and Guy Fawkes.
The research team are using technology such as raking light, laser scanning and X-ray analysis to decipher the inscriptions, which have never been used at the Tower before.
One of the passages seems to have been written by a woman, which is a groundbreaking revelation in their research.
Ingram said the note referred to a ‘husband’, as well as honours and rivers.
‘We haven’t got any specific records of female prisoners in that tower. This is possibly a woman’s voice, which is incredibly rare in the graffiti, and the first example we’ve got in the Salt Tower itself.
‘We know that there were women at the tower.
‘They’re just not represented in these physical first-person records.
‘This is a rare primary record of a woman’s presence, whether she’s a prisoner herself or the wife of the prisoner.’
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