Alnwick church graffiti could give local history insight

Many of the graffiti drawings found in the roof of St Michael's in Alnwick had images of ships

Hundreds of 18th and 19th Century examples of graffiti depicting ships, footprints and initials have been found on a church roof.

The drawings were found etched on lead during repairs to the tower at St Michael's in Alnwick, Northumberland.

They are now on display in the church and there are hopes the graffiti will give insights into local history.

Historians say it is unusual to find such a large amount - about 450 legible pieces and many more illegible ones.

They said the degree of detail in some of them was impressive.

Among those who left his mark was Thomas Patterson, the church clerk in the 1800s

Footprints and designs can be seen on some of the slabs of lead

One piece found in the roof depicted a chicken

Jean Derby, from St Michael's, said that while the graffiti artists should not have caused the vandalism, they were "leaving their mark".

"It's proved wonderful for us because we now have the means to research a lot of local history," she said.

"We think the ships were probably there because from the top of the tower you could see out to the sea.

"They're really quite detailed, we have the anchor and the pennants, and on one of them there is actually a Scottish flag."

She said some of the footprints showed hobnails in the heels and toes of the boots.

"And there's a a gentleman in his full regalia which tells us something of the fashion of the time," she added.

The discovery was made during repairs after the roof of the tower leaked

She added: "One thing we are really proud of is that we're involving the community.

"Although we can't take the graffiti out of the church, we're inviting groups to come in, to see what they could do with it - there are people from local history societies who want to do research, and there's also schools.

"So we are going out and we are being proactive."