Strange letters engraved on church wall?

Question

i have been searching all over the web for what these are. I saw the letters etched outside and inside this medieval church in southern France. Anyone know the history? Are they latin? What do they say? See pics http://bonjones.com/JanelAndChristopher/photoView.php?pid=599
http://bonjones.com/JanelAndChristopher/photoView.php?pid=593

This is really starting to bother me. I took your suggestions and looked up stone masons, freemasons, greek, latin and other ancient alphabets and i can not find these symbols anywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabets_derived_from_the_Latin

It may be they took the stones from another building, but that doesn't explain the strange letters, like the weird looking A with a line over the top or the swirl.

I did ask the tourist office when I was there and the woman said she didn't know what I was talking about, what letters, she said. Hmmm.

Thank you AskAsk for your answer, that defiantly is it. From what I can understand from the french websites, it seems that no one knows for sure what they are. Some say they are the signature of the workers, or as a way to keep tract of how much to pay which workers. One site said these signatures make it possible to follow a particular worker from site to site.

http://tinyurl.com/25pvju

One website claims the symbols indicate treasures inside the building?

http://tinyurl.com/2hywaz

Those are translated webpages so it may not all make sense.

Answer 1

Check in the symbols of Freemasonry... I'm betting you'll find your answers there.

Answer 2

I think that such are workmen's marks, "marques de tâcherons", and that they are typical for Romance churches of Provence. I read somewhere that the workmen marked the stones with specific symbols or initials that helped to prove how much payment you were entitled to at the end of the day. In the North of France, work was organised differently, and the need to mark your stones was lesser than in the South. The name of a certain "Ugo" with a symbol like a sickle came up when I looked at a web page of St Paul 3 Châteaux.

Try to google "marques de tâcherons" or "marques lapidaires" together or without "st paul" or "saint paul" and "chateaux", and you might find out more. And - if you read French, or know someone who can help you translate - try to find the article "Marques lapidaires, Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Paul à) : Notice, [Art.], CAF 1992, p.239-278."
CAF = Congrès Archéologique de France - yearly publication. Maybe your library can help you to find it.

Answer 3

I cannot say with any certainty, but it may be that those letters were once part of an older building upon which something was engraved. When the older building was dismantled its stones were re-used in the building of the church, and the letters, in their haphazard arrangement, appeared on the exterior walls.

This is just a guess, of course, but it could be possible.

Answer 4

There are roman letters on there. some look even older. i would hazard a guess and say the church was built and rebuilt many times over the years and it appears that the engravings are from different occupiers being that they are haphazardly placed. again i saw roman and what appears to be older Greek characters.

Answer 5

Maybe they were the first initial of the early followers of the church. Each member was to take a stone and place it upon the wall.

Answer 6

I know that stone masons used to have their own special mark that they used to signify their work but I haven't seen it used like that on any building.