This is the third snippet from my work looking at graffiti in the church. In the previous article I drew the distinction between marks that are made illicitly and marks whose prominence suggests they were sanctioned at the time, as an official record of work done, where the identity of those involved is not a secret. This example seems somewhere between the two. The style is like an illicit mark, and quite easy to miss, but the authors openly disclose their identity, occupation and location.
The names of ‘R Castell and ‘M Stonard’ are enclosed within a shield, along with the date ‘JUNE 1930’ and the description ‘Plumbers High Wycombe’, all scratched into the stone. The initial ‘C’ might possibly be a ‘G’ but whereas there were many births, marriages and deaths of ‘Castell’ in the area. [Records for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, 1880 – 1950» there are none for ‘Gastell’. ]
The words ‘High Wycombe’ at the bottom were presumably added after the shield was drawn before the because they run outside the shield.
The shield itself is been drawn to look like a solid object standing out from the wall. At the top its front and rear edges are shown as a double line and the near (right) side is shown with shading and a dashed rear edge.
The joint inscription suggests colleagues, and as plumbers they could have worked on the lead roof. The mark is near the door that gives access to the nave roof so perhaps it was an advertisement they left at the site, in the same way that building contractors often display a board outside a property on which they have worked. There’s no record of roof work in 1930 but Canon Long (Rector 1904–33) was credited with getting the church ‘practically re-roofed’ during his tenure.
Or they might also have been friends visiting Wokingham socially who went up the tower for some reason. Perhaps they knew one of the ringers or the clock winder or the person responsible for flying the flag. [We currently fly a Flag on the monarch’s official birthday, which is in June.]
John Harrison (xxx 2026)
| Back to top | Return to Article list | Feedback |