London to Walsingham Camino - The Pilgrimage Guide

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One reason for re-establishing the London to Walsingham Camino is to seek to raise awareness of the significance of Walsingham. The church (Lower Thames St, London EC3R 6DN), is the official start of the London to Walsingham Camino route, and will be open for us to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and stamp our pilgrim passports. Passports are available from the Confraternity of St James (csj.org.uk) Before Henry VIII outlawed pilgrimage and the veneration of saints in 1538, the route from London to the shrine at Walsingham in Norfolk was the most popular pilgrimage in England. Tube to Monument for start of pilgrim route at St Magnus the Martyr, perhaps via Southwark Anglican Cathedral.

A pilgrim path that offers a wonderful long-distance route, on footpaths and quiet lanes, across the glorious east of England. To remedy that, the Confraternity is working with Andy Bull, author of Pilgrim Pathways, to identify the old route and develop a modern pilgrim path that is as faithful to it as possible, while also giving a fulfilling walking experience.Walsingham was England’s Nazareth. A fantastical tale brought pilgrims – kings, queens, and commoners alike – to Walsingham in the Middle Ages. We were welcomed at many points along the way. Many of the 22 churches in which we have placed pilgrim stamps invited us to join them for Morning or Evening Prayer, for Mass and – on one memorable occasion, in the village of Withersfield – the most enchanting Evensong I have ever experienced. The village choir was accompanied on a homely squeeze-box like organ and afterwards the vicar, Max Drinkwater, joined us for pilgrim supper at the village inn, the White Horse, where we were staying. Identifying the very best walking route at each point, and offering a good alternative route via Bury St Edmunds, will be key to the success of the project. You will note that I have at least one church on the itinerary each day, where possible for either for an Anglican service, Catholic Mass or a simple blessing. Attendance at these is entirely optional. I hope to gather a small band of pilgrims around me who will walk long sections (possibly all) of the route. Approximately 180 miles in all!

Walking each day set up a rhythm in which the awareness of being a pilgrim grew. As day followed day, the ordinary, everyday world and my life in it shrank in significance, and the life of the spirit and the joyful sense of communal endeavour grew ever stronger. Readers are welcome to attend one or more location, and to join author Andy Bull, who has led the revival of the path, on the walk between them, as you wish. Something significant occurred in a number of those pubs. Sarah wore her collar at all times. I had wondered how people would react to it, but the reception couldn’t have been friendlier. In several they thought they were meeting the vicar (for the first time, given hardly any of them went to church) and came over to chat. One local asked Sarah if she was a Catholic priest. Another, who was completely unchurched, began in a challenging vein, a sort of ‘what’s it all about then’, but then spoke movingly of his life, his fears and his challenges. You got the sense that he might just pop into a church for the first time in his life, after this. She told me that it was all very well to have re-established the pre-Reformation walking route from London to Walsingham, and fine that I had walked each stage four or five times in the course of researching the path... but. To truly bear witness I had to walk the whole thing in one go.

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But when I told the many people we met along the way that this was a pilgrimage I got a fair few blank looks. Yet, if I said this was a Camino, ‘like they have in Spain’, I almost always got nods of recognition. Often they knew of the film, The Way, in which a character played by Martin Sheen walks to the shrine of St James in Santiago, in honour of a son who died on the eve of his own Camino journey. The whole 177.8 mile pilgrimage could be accomplished by a fit walker in a fortnight or less. But maybe you want to walk for fewer miles each day, or just at weekends, or on odd days when you have the time and energy. This guide caters for multiple approaches. Walsingham was England's Nazareth. A fantastical tale brought pilgrims - kings, queens, and commoners alike - to Walsingham in the Middle Ages. In 1061 a Walsingham noblewoman, Lady Richeldis de Faverches, had a vision in which the Virgin Mary transported her soul to Nazareth and showed her the house where the Holy Family once lived, and in which the Annunciation of Archangel Gabriel, foretelling Jesus's birth, occurred. She was told to build a replica of the house in Walsingham, and did so. The Holy House, initially a simple wooden structure, later richly decorated with gold and precious jewels, became a shrine and attracted pilgrims to Walsingham from all over Europe. Numerous kings travelled as pilgrims to Walsingham. I hope to be able to offer some pilgrimage-related activities in Bury, and am discussing this with the Cathedral team. It all depends on how many we will be.