Arrow Sharpening Marks: An English Church Myth
Member Exclusive Lectures
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1h 0m
Across England, rows of parallel vertical scars can be found on church stonework, clustered around porches, doors and windows; for upwards of a century, local antiquarians have been assuring us that these marks were made by the archers of medieval England sharpening their arrows. This well-loved story doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, but that’s par for the course with a national myth. More surprisingly, decades of recent study have failed to produce a convincing explanation for these marks. Jeremy Harte looks at what we do and don’t know about arrow sharpening marks: we may not have got to the bottom of them, but we’re beyond scratching the surface.
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