Handwriting - the letter c

I have asked a similar question before, without any response, so am trying
again!

A significant percentage of the documents in a particular area c1620-c1720
place a mark above the letter c (a tilde or circumflex or acute accent,
depending on the writer) both in text (e.g. in wills and in the hand-written
sections of bonds) and in signatures. Is this unusual or is this normal? And
what, if any, is the reasoning behind it?

example: probate bond of 1718: 'Mariam Dickinson .... Henricum Walker' -
both cs having a circumflex above.

Simon Pugh...

Well small 'c' can sometime look remarkably like a little 't'

But you probably don't mean this, perhaps it is a contraction mark, a
hangover from Latin?

Chris Dickinson...

Yes, I have wondered if the mark was simply used to indicate that the 'c'
wasn't a 't'.

It is possible that this is a quirk of a particular teacher that was
repeated generaton after generation in this small area; but some hangover
from medieval practice seems the most likely explanation. I'll be interested
if anyone can come up with examples from elsewhere.