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Apotropaic marks
The surfaces of old buildings are typically the carriers of many marks — of time, use and decorative intention, amongst other things. In the outbuildings of this 17th-century farmhouse in Oxfordshire there are also the scratchings of various hands across the centuries, from casual graffiti and purposeful grain tallies to this circle inscribed with a daisy wheel, cut into the stone to the side of a barn door. The latter symbol is apotropaic, meaning that it was supposed to have the power to ward off malevolent spirits.
![](https://www.johnpawson.com/assets/Journal/2016/06.-June-2016/Home-Farm/160305_Pawson_HF_Gilbert_McCarragher_133_LoRes.jpg)
![](https://www.johnpawson.com/assets/Journal/2016/06.-June-2016/Home-Farm/DSC2483.jpg)
![](https://www.johnpawson.com/assets/Journal/2016/06.-June-2016/Home-Farm/DSC0390.jpg)
![](https://www.johnpawson.com/assets/Journal/2016/06.-June-2016/Home-Farm/DSC0920.jpg)
Photography
John Pawson