What can graffiti tell us about the past? When we pass it on our streets today, we might be forgiven for thinking it is a modern phenomenon. From provocative works by Banksy to spray-painted pro-Palestinian messages, it’s rarely out of our news cycle. But writing on the wall is nothing new. In fact, for most of human history, almost everyone took to the surfaces around them – from cave walls to tavern windows – to have their say.
In medieval Britain, graffitists would carve into the stone walls of
