20 MAY 1989, Page 26

Mene, mene

Sir: One of the several pleasures to be found in visiting ruined abbeys and castles, is that of seeing the usually carefully cut and occasionally embellished graffiti left by 18th- and 19th-century visitors. They appear to have gone equipped with ham- mers, chisels and skill in the stone-cutter's craft. Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire is particularly rich, and, to a lesser degree, Kenilworth.

On a recent visit to Kenilworth I saw the following cut into the stonework of the 14th-century great halt: To H. .V ' I wonder if it has any meaning other than merely a private whim: a knowledgeable bunch of people such as read The Spectator may be able to hazard a guess to help explain it.

P. R. Newman

York Castle Museum, York