The Writing on the Wall with Madeleine Pelling

In 1796, workmen discovered ghosts in the Tower of London. As they stripped away wooden paneling from the walls, they found messages from the past carved deep into stone that lay below. Poems, elaborate coats of arms, simple initials, and Christian symbols all paid tribute to the final days of just some of the many people who met their end within the castle’s walls.

The forgotten graffiti in the Tower of London was an astonishing discovery, but not an uncommon one. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, London women and men left their marks above doors, on walls, and in the strangest places, offering us brief glimpses into moments of utter farce and the most horrible of crimes.

At some point in our lives, we all must face the writing on the wall, but in some cases, what others have left behind can reveal to us how they lived. In this episode, Dr. Jim Ambuske talks with historian Madeleine Pelling, Ph.D. about her recent book Writing on the Wall: Graffiti & Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Britain.

Hosted by Dr. Jim Ambuske. Executive producers are Dr. Lynn Price Robbins, Jeanette Patrick, and Patrick Long. Audio and video editing by Patrick Long. Revolutions in Retrospect is a joint production of Primary Source Media and Revolutionary Histories.