The riverside church at Boveney, Bucks dates to the 12th century. Its charmingly lopsided belltower is constructed from enormous oaks, most likely delivered by barge from the nearby Windsor Forest. It's little wonder this timber church was protected with burn marks…

#thread

From the 16th-century bell-frame, to the 15th and 18th-century pews, the 19th-century pulpit and panelling, this little church is full of great woodwork. Looking closely at the medieval pews, we can see the carpenter’s marks, but also some scorch marks.

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Known now as taper burn marks, these were once thought to have been caused by the careless placing of candles. However, research by @MedievalG and others has found that these marks appear in places there is no chance of a casual candle reaching – such as roof timbers

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– and that they occur in such profusion that the medieval people must have been very careless indeed…

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Now, we believe these burn marks were intentional, that they were applied to the timbers during construction as a ritual protection of the timbers from fire – a sort of inoculation. 
Given the survival of the ancient church at Boveney, it seems like the taper marks worked.

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Thanks @Portaspeciosa for being the terrific torch-bearer (again) for these photos.

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