Within these walls

The story of a bricklayer placing a pound coin in the wall of a reader’s home (Letters, October) is an example of centuries-old apotropaic magic – intended to deter evil spirits. It’s exemplified in everyday actions such as crossing fingers and knocking on wood, or in displaying or secreting items.

In ancient Rome, human and animal bones or pots of food and drink were used as foundation sacrifices. Horseshoes nailed above doorways are still common sights.

In 2016, a man’s shoe was found within a wall in St John’s College, Cambridge; it’s thought to have been placed there as a lucky charm in the 17th or 18th century. Northampton Museum has an index of almost 3,000 shoes discovered in old buildings near entrance points such as doors, windows and fireplaces. One theory is the shoes were intended as bait, meant to attract witches by their scent and then trap them. More positively, in past eras shoes might be thrown at newly wed couples to wish them happiness and fertility, in the same way as rice and confetti are thrown today.

Occasionally, dead bodies of cats were placed inside walls to deter intruding vermin. These have been discovered in New England as well as in Europe.

Meanwhile, “witch bottles” [pictured below] have been found in old buildings and churchyards, and beside rivers. The idea was to capture a witch inside a bottle containing needles and wine, to impale and drown her. Glass spheres known as witch balls were hung in cottage windows with a similar intention.

So the bricklayer who placed that pound coin in a wall was simply continuing a very long-established folk tradition.

Ian MacDonald, Essex