Violet Pritchard

Violet Pritchard (née Bannerman; 2 May 1899 – 20 October 1993) was a British historian and writer who published the first full-length study in English of medieval graffiti.

English Medieval Graffiti Violet Pritchard published English Medieval Graffiti in 1967, the result of research undertaken predominantly in churches in and around Cambridge. Although Pritchard herself, and scholars since, noted the shortcomings of the work, it is considered a groundbreaking study.

In her introduction, Pritchard wrote:The drawings are in some ways of greater interest than the inscriptions, for they invoke the past in a manner which no inscription could achieve. A picture arrests time and brings to life a lost moment in a century long past. Many of the drawings are hitherto unknown gems of medieval art: lost treasures refound, only to be lost again for ever if steps are not taken to preserve them. Antonio Castillo Gómez has noted the significance of Pritchard's approach, suggesting that her "work staked a claim for the importance of writings and drawings on walls for our knowledge of the economy, social structure and way of life of a given place and time, and she treated them as historical sources".

Notable works

English Medieval Graffiti (Cambridge University Press, 1967)