Hi DL,

Sometimes there are no immediate answers to questions posed and all that could be said is therefore pure conjecture which is certainly not the same thing as hard evidence based fact.

The daisy wheel concerned is on an elm fireplace mantle beam in an Oxfordshire cottage and it might date from the early 1600's. It is not unusual to find such marks but the meaning of same is still not fully understood. Timothy Easton and Laurie Smith are researching these and other types of apotropaic marks.

Regards

Ken Hume