A Norwich landmark has played a starring role in a new TV-series aiming to reveal the secrets of Britain's mysterious past and its obsession with witches and demons.

Norwich Evening News: Anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota visiting Norwich Cathedral with archaeologist Matthew Champion. Picture: Smithsonian ChannelAnthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota visiting Norwich Cathedral with archaeologist Matthew Champion. Picture: Smithsonian Channel (Image: Archant)

Every-year thousands of people visit Norwich Cathedral to pause for thought, wander by the building's sheer size and take in its history.

But not many of those visitors will know that the among the decorative bosses and marks left by former novice monks is an inscription designed to bring a curse upon an old Norwich family.

Until now, as a new TV series presented by Clive Anderson and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota has revealed the less obvious and slightly sinister etchings on the Cathedral's walls.

Visiting the Cathedral with archaeologist Matthew Champion, Ms Ochota discovers the inscription which is revealed to be the surname of an old Norwich family, the Kanefords, next an astrological combination of the sun and the moon.

Which, as the show reveals when combined, form a medieval curse.

Explaining the symbol was designed to bring 'a lot more than bad luck' to whoever it was directed at during the course of the visit to Norwich Cathedral Mr Champion explains: 'This [inscription was designed] to bring down the gods of wrath on these individuals.'

Explaining that by leaving the curse on the wall of the cathedral who ever made it hoped to harness the 'power' of the Cathedral, Mr Champion adds: 'These stones have been consecrated, so they contain power in their own right.

'So it's almost directing that power towards an individual' he said.

It is also revealed during the course of the visit that the curse was most likely made by a member of the Cathedral community.

'We're in an area of the Cathedral where the public would not have had access to, this is also done by someone who was literate and very used to writing, so this is clearly done by someone who was educated and someone who was educated enough to understand a classical curse.

'So, the chances are this was done by a member of the Cathedral community' he said.

Mystic Britain, Witches and Demons will be broadcast at 8pm, April 30 on Smithsonian Channel.