IT IS a feature of many modern high streets, but graffiti consisting of crude drawings and a set of initials from hundreds of years ago has just been found inside Mingary Castle in Argyll.

Graffiti scratched into plastered interior walls in a sealed up mural chamber in the 700-year-old castle includes marks that could be letters, and an image that resembles a ship.

Nearby the initials WS appear carved into stonework. The plasterwork scratchings appear to date from the castle's construction, while the initials may belong to a later date in the 16th or 17th century.

The find was made as work was being carried out by the Mingary Castle Preservation & Restoration Trust.

It was discovered in a chamber built within a three metre thick wall when the castle was built in the late 13th century. Researchers believe it was covered up in frantic efforts to protect the castle against siege.

The chamber, which once may have been a small chapel or oratory, had been filled with rubble and household waste apparently to strenghten the curtain wall. Fragments of iron from cannonballs suggest the castle had been under attack.

Lead archaeologist Tom Addyman said: "We found markings that had been incised into the freshly applied plaster in a number of areas. It is possible that the marks include lettering and what may be an image of a ship. It's exciting because the graffiti seems to date to the time of the original construction in the 13th century."