Truth or legend: the strange case of Creswell Crags

A few months ago, I was peer pressured into watching a claustrophobic’s worst nightmare, As Above, So Below, by my partner. As it was a relatively new relationship at the time, I was keen to prove my pseudo-macho status by enduring ninety minutes’ worth of anxiety. Unfortunately, this façade waned by the credits as I spent most of the film protesting to turn the lights on or just regularly screaming out loud just to discover a new fear of tight spaces and the French. As a result of this traumatising date night, there is one place in Nottinghamshire that I will not be visiting. Due to an abundance of jagged edges, darkness, and ritualistic protection marks used to keep a 17^th century evil spirit at bay, Creswell Crags isn’t for the faint hearted.

This limestone gorge is situated on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border and features a manmade lake surrounded by a variety of caves. Archaeologists believe the site to have been occupied over 50,000 years ago, and nearly 100,000 excavated ancient artefacts held in the museum including a baby hyena skeleton, a medieval stone board game, and a woolly rhinoceros’s tooth.

However, as recently as 2019, Hayley Clark and Ed Waters of archaeological charity Subterrenea Britannica discovered more peculiar finds – strange markings on the cave walls. Initially, these were believed to have been acts of graffiti predating the infamous ‘YCV,’ ‘Elmo,’ and ‘Syko’ marks you can find plastered on utility boxes, shutters and phone boxes around the city centre. Yet Nottingham’s very own Ed and Lorraine Warren realised that this wasn’t just your average tag and dash situation.

These Apotropaic marks, stemming from the Greek apotrepein, meaning ‘to turn away,’ put Notts on the map as being home to the biggest collection of Witches Marks in one place in the whole of the UK. In other parts of the country, anti-spirit repellents can be found within buildings and churches to defend homeowners and churchgoers from being possessed. However, at Creswell Crags, these stone etchings can be found above a large cavern in Robin Hood’s Cave which seems to suggest that ancient demon slayers were trying to keep an evil inside the hole, preventing it from possessing the East Midlands (rumour has it, the spirit was unleashed and approved the one-way system in the city centre as well as the destruction of planning permission to grant Broad Marsh’s reconstruction). 

Most of these markings take the shape of various letters such as AM for Ave Maria, PM for Pace Maria, or VV for Virgin of Virgins. Daisy wheel symbols, consisting of one singular, endless line were also utilised to defend earthlings from Satan’s spawn as the never-ending nature confused the spirits. This then explains why daisy chains I once made for childhood crushes were often rejected and led to them fleeing the playground. Clearly the only reason for this is because they must have been witches from Creswell Crags that emerged before break time.

Whilst I am no professional in the dark arts or particularly fond of subterranean witching spawn points, I do believe that the only option is to convert Creswell Crags into a multistorey car park. This may be my fears getting the best of me, but if I were the one to discover these markings, I doubt the midlands would ever see me again.

Fortunately for those intrepid daytrippers who aren’t fearful of the dark, Creswell Crags offers tour guides to journey through time to the Ice Age, allowing for budding explorers to see these Witch Marks and various other cave artworks from over 12,000 years ago. Researchers and students continue to use the artefacts for educational and research purposes. Provided these practices continue in safe environments where poltergeists are heavily sedated and witches are fearful of a few engraved letters, the museum and cave tours shall continue. I, however, will be residing in the café surrounded by scones, cakes, and a large glass of water in case any of the witches get lairy.