Wild times in wild places: Counter-cultures, graffiti and the wild at the Devil’s Spittleful
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2015-10-28

Andrew Hoaen
UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER
Whilst graffiti is often considered to be an urban activity it is also an essential element of the rural scene. Exposed rock faces, buildings, trees and other living surfaces have often been painted and inscribed over long periods of time. This paper wishes to explore how wild places are used and modified by modern urban populations and how we as heritage professionals might approach and theorize those activities. This paper will explore the role of the wild as theorized by Thoreau and examine how recent counter-cultures take that concept of wildness to use spaces designated as ‘wild or natural’ to express their identity. The case study will be based on the record of graffiti, rock art and monuments constructed at the Devil’s Spittleful, Worcestershire, UK, wildlife reserve and SSI. This nature reserve is surrounded on three sides by post- WW2 urban sprawl and in its 60 years of existence has become a location for a range of ad-hoc recreations. In local folk lore it has a long history as a location for revelry and the sandstone crag at the centre of the reserve has become the focus for a significant concentration of graffiti and ‘naïve art’ carved in large continuous panels on the surface of the rock. I aim to include in this discussion how we should see graffiti as part of a suite of behaviours that lead to landscape modifications in the “wild”.