stone

Having spent much of its life as a goal (jail), excavations at Norwich Castle are as likely to find medieval graffiti as more typical objects such as jugs and jewellery. With nothing but time on their hands many prisoners took to carving images or messages into the limestone walls encasing them. The castle walls are made of limestone shipped from Caen in France. This made them a tempting prospect for prisoners trying to pass the time. The castle keep was used as a gaol from the 14th century, and this stonework was likely made by prisoners in the 15th century. Many of the marks are now too worn to make out significant detail, but the pose of Christ on the cross is unmistakable. The keep itself was used directly as a gaol until 1792-93, when a new prison was constructed in and around the keep. This was designed by Sir John Soane, who was also the architect of the Bank of England. The gaol closed in 1883, leading the to opening of Norwich Castle as museum in 1894 - and the possibility to discover incredible objects such as this.