Patrick Comerford
I am staying for much of this week at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, where I have been invited to speak at the Ecumenical Pilgrimage to Walsingham tomorrow on ‘A Priest along the Way of a Pilgrim’.
My room looks out on the shrine church, built in 1938 after Walsingham had been established as part of the revival of pilgrimage devotion led by Father Alfred Hope Patten in the 1920s. The grounds include the shrine church, gardens, several chapels, a refectory, a café, a shrine shop, a visitors’ centre, the Pilgrim Hall, an orangery, the college, which is home to priests-associate when in residence, and a large number of residential blocks to accommodate pilgrims.
The village of Little Walsingham is mid-way between Norwich and King’s Lynn. Walsingham is the site of the reputed vision of the Virgin Mary experienced by Lady Richeldis de Faverches, traditionally dated to 1061. Her reputed Marian vision is one of the earliest recorded in England and was central to Walsingham becoming a pilgrimage place, and the original site of the ‘Holy House’ at Walsingham Priory became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in mediaeval England.
In a vision, she was commissioned to build a replica of the house in her village in Walsingham, and it was dedicated to Annunciation. The vision was repeated three times, according to a legend retold in a 15th century ballad. Walsingham soon became known as England’s Nazareth.
Her son and heir was Geoffrey de Faverches. Before he left to join the Second Crusade, he left the Holy House and its grounds to his chaplain, Edwy, to establish a religious house at Walsingham and to care for the shrine. This later became Walsingham Priory, which passed into the care of Augustinian Canons Regular sometime between 1146 and 1174.
As travelling became more difficult during the Crusades, Walsingham became a place of pilgrimage, ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela. The original Holy House had a revered wooden image of Our Lady, further emphasising its role as a centre of Marian devotion and pilgrimage.
Royal patronage helped the Shrine to grow in wealth and popularity, with visits from Henry III, Edward II, Edward III, Henry IV, Edward IV, Henry VII and Henry VIII. Erasmus visited the shrine around 1512, and in the 1526 edition of his Colloquies he wrote about practices and motivations of pilgrims and discussed external rituals and the inner faith of pilgrims.
At the dissolution of the monastic houses in 1538 at the Reformation, Walsingham Priory was suppressed, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was reportedly taken to London and burned. Some accounts say the statue was burned in Thomas Cromwell’s courtyard in Chelsea, others that it was burned in Smithfield, a known site for public burnings, still others suggest the statue was rescued or sold rather than destroyed.
In any case, the loss of the statue brought an end to the status of Walsingham as a pilgrimage site for centuries, until its revival in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Walsingham was revived in the late 19th century and the 14th century Slipper Chapel, which was restored in 1897, is now at the centre of the Roman Catholic National Shrine.
When Father Alfred Hope Patten was appointed the Vicar of Walsingham in 1921, he rekindled Anglican interest in pilgrimage. He designed a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham based on the image seen on the mediaeval seal of Walsingham Priory. The statue was set up in Saint Mary’s Church in 1922 and regular pilgrimage devotion followed.
Throughout the 1920s, the trickle of pilgrims became a flood of large numbers and the Pilgrim Hospice or house was opened. The then Bishop of Norfolk, Bertram Pollock, insisted in 1930 that Father Patten remove the image of Our Lady of Walsingham from the parish church. Undeterred, Father Patten sought financial help from supporters, principally Sir William Milner, and bought a site to build a new Holy House enclosed in a small church.
The modern church was designed by the architects Milner and Craze with an Italianate exterior. When the foundations of the church were being dug, an ancient well was discovered, cleared of debris and incorporated into the Shrine Church. When a new Holy House was encased in a small pilgrimage church in 1931, the statue was moved there with great solemnity.
Father Patten’s Anglo-Catholic tradition is reflected in the colourful paintings and statues, the use of incense and the honour given to the Virgin Mary and the saints. The walls are richly decorated with murals, many of them designed and painted by Enid Chadwick. Works by the church architect Sir Ninian Comper in the church include three stained glass windows, the Holy House altar and two sets of vestments.
The church was enlarged in 1938 to form the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. Walsingham was a restricted zone closed to visitors during World War II. But in May 1945, US forces organised the first Mass in the priory grounds since the Reformation.
Father Patten combined the posts of Vicar of Walsingham and priest administrator of the Anglican shrine until he died in 1958. The Revd John Colin Stephenson succeeded him as the administrator of the shrine, but he declined to take on the role of vicar. Since 1959, the Whit Monday pilgrimage has been known as the National Pilgrimage.
Three sisters of the Society of Saint Margaret moved to Walsingham in 1947 to assist at the shrine. The Priory of Our Lady, Walsingham, was founded in 1955 and became an autonomous house in 1994.
The side aisles in the shrine church were added later in 1964 and 1972. Each small side chapel is dedicated to a saint, and the 15 chapels are also named after the mysteries of the Rosary. The shrine church has a holy well, and water from the well is often taken home by pilgrims.
The Society of Our Lady of Walsingham was founded in 1925, the Order of Our Lady of Walsingham was founded in 1953, and the College of Guardians of the Shrine, with 20 members, is responsible for governing the shrine. The Association of Priests Associate of the Holy House, founded in 1931, is an association of priests who preside at the Mass for the shrine. But sacramental ministry in the shrine is reserved to male priests who have been ordained by male bishops The present priest administrator Father Ben Eadon was appointed in 2024.
The shrine offers accommodation for just under 200 people, and the season runs from 1 February until early December, but the accommodation is closed in December and January. The grounds and gardens include the Shrine Church and Holy House, the Guild of All Souls Chapel, and the Barn Church. Saint Joseph’s House opened for pilgrims with special needs and Richeldis House opened in 1991 with more accommodation.
To mark the millennium, a new refectory was opened by Princess Alexandra in 2001, during a year of outreach when the statue of Our Lady visited five cathedrals in Britain. The statue visited a variety of venues in 2004, including a hospital, a prison, an airport, an army barracks, an Oxford college and a school, culminating in service of celebration in York Minster.
The shrine gardens were redesigned and replanted by Tessa Hobbs in 2005, the west front entrance piazza of the shrine church was reworked, and a new Altar of the Mysteries of Light was built in the garden.
Saint Augustine’s House has been rebuilt and restored and its library refurbished. The library was rededicated by the Archbishop of York, and the main room is named in honour of Bishop Eric Kemp, Bishop of Chichester and an honorary guardian of the Shrine.
The Milner Wing, where I am staying, was completed in 2008 and includes the Welcome Centre, a new reception area and a range of en-suite bedrooms.
