Walsingham

What is Walsingham
Walsingham is a place of pilgrimage where pilgrims go.
A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey where people may ask for help, to
be healed or to get closer to God.
A pilgrim is a person who goes on a spiritual journey to a place of
worship.
Chronology of Walsingham
1061 Richeldis de faverches is taken in spirit to Nazareth and asked
by our lady to build a replica, in Norfolk,
Of the holy house of the Annunciation.
1150 Augustinians canons build a priory beside the holy house.
1226 Henry III was the first monarch to visit the shrine. Many
Kings and Queens came several times in their reigns.
Edward I is recorded as coming 11 times. Edward II came in
1315, Edward III in 1361, King David of Scotland in 1364, Richard
II Queen Anne in 1383, Queen Joan in 1427, Edward IV in
1469, Henry VI in 1487 and many other times, and the last
English Monarch to visit was Henry VIII.
last pilgrim chapel on the way to Walsingham. 13471340 Slipper
chapel as the Franciscan friary established by Elizabeth de burgh,
Countess of Clare.

1381 England presented to Our Lady as her Dowry by

Richard II in Westminster Abbey.
1461 Ballad published by Pynson, the first record of the
Walsingham Story from its founding as a shrine in 1061.
1479 William of Worcester records the dimensions of the
shrine as 7 yards 30 inches long and 4 yards 10 inches wide.
The priory church was 136 paces long.
1485 Red Mount Chapel in King's Lynn built as wayside
chapel for Walsingham bound pilgrims.

1513 Erasmus, the Dutch scholar visited Walsingham and

left this description of the shrine "When you look in you
would say it is the abode of saints, so brilliantly does it
shine on all sides with gems, gold and silver Our Lady
stands in the dark at the right side of the altar a little
image, remarkable neither for its size, material or
workmanship."
1534 Walsingham is one of the first religious houses to
sign the Oath of Supremacy recognising Henry VIII's
marriage to Anne Boleyn, and accepting Henry as head of
the Church in England. (The Reformation).
1537 Sub-Prior Nicholas Mileham, and layman George
Guisborough were executed in Walsingham.
1538 The deed of surrender was signed on August 4th. The
Shrine was closed, and the statue taken to London with
other images to be burnt. The Shrine and the Priory church
were destroyed. The Slipper Chapel was used as a barn, a
cow byre and as a workhouse, until it was rescued.
1578 Elizabeth I visited Walsingham.
1781 John Wesley preached in Walsingham.
1896 Charlotte Boyd buys the Slipper Chapel and gives it
to Downside Abbey.
1897 Pope Leo XIII re-founds the Ancient Shrine of Our Lady
of Walsingham in King's Lynn. The first post-reformation
pilgrimage takes place to the Slipper Chapel and to
Walsingham.
1906 Charlotte Boyd dies.
1921 Rev Alfred Hope-Patten appointed as Vicar of
Walsingham.
1922 Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham enshrined in
Anglican Parisxh Church.
1923 First organised Anglican pilgrimage to Walsingham.
1930 Slipper Chapel conveyed to the Diocese of
Northampton.
1931 Anglican Shrine built and statue is translated from
The Parish Church.

1934 First post-reformation Mass said in Slipper Chapel on

August 15th, and on the 19th August Cardinal Bourne led a
pilgrimage of 10,000 people and declared the Slipper Chapel
the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady.
1937 Capuchin Friars establish a house in Walsingham
until withdrawing in 1948.
1938 Slipper Chapel and Holy Ghost Chapel consecrated by
Bishop Youens of Northampton.
1945 First post-reformation Mass in the Priory Ruins
organised by American Forces.
1946 First Benediction in Priory Ruins organised by the
Union of Catholic Mothers.
1948 First Student Cross Pilgrimage came to Walsingham
at Easter. Also the Cross Carrying Pilgrimage for Peace,
Penance and Prayer set out on 3rd July and carried fourteen
crosses to Walsingham from all parts of the country. They
were dedicated to the Way of the Cross on 16th July.
1950 Temporary Catholic Church dedicated to the
Annunciation built in Walsingham.
1953 Assumption window placed in the Slipper Chapel.

1954 Before a crowd, variously estimated between 10,000

and 20,000 the Papal Delegate, Archbishop O'Hara crowned
the new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham on 15th August.
1961 Archaeological dig in the Priory ruins establishes
exact site of original shrine.
1968 The Marist Fathers become responsible for the
Shrine.
1976The Diocese of East Anglia established.
1980 The Archbishop of Canterbury visits The Slipper
Chapel.
1981 The Chapel of Reconciliation is built.
1982 The Statue is taken to Wembley to be venerated by
Pope John Paul II, during his British visit.

1996 The Anglican Bishop of Norwich prayed at the Slipper

Chapel during his pilgrimage to mark 900 years of the
Norwich Diocese.
1997 Celebrations begin in August, to mark the centenary
of the re-founding of the Shrine King's Lynn, and last until
The Dowry of Mary Pilgrimage 1998. Annunciation window
installed in the Slipper Chapel to mark the Centenary.
1997 East Anglia Diocese signs covenant with CAFOD
during Diocesan pilgrimage. Shrine adopts CAFOD as its
Millennium charity.
2000 The Shrine celebrates the great Jubilee of the
Incarnation.
2001 Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. In 1993, the Bishops'
Conference of England and Wales presented to Rome
proposals for a new liturgical calendar for England and
Wales. These were finally approved by the Vatican to take
effect from Advent 2000. Among the changes is a new feast
of Our Lady of Walsingham to be celebrated as a memorial
(a feast in East Anglia) on September 24th.
The feast replaces the old feast of Our Lady of Ransom,
which was the only feast of Our Lady proper to England.
Devotion to Our Lady of Ransom came to express the desire
of Catholics in England to restore her Dowry to Mary.
The Guild of Our Lady of Ransom has long connections with
the Shrine and it is unlikely that the old title of Our Lady of
Ransom will disappear altogether nor will the title, Our Lady
of Mercy, which is also associated with September 24th.
The new feast was celebrated at the Shrine on September
24th for the first time. It is hoped that each year there will
be a special preacher.
Over hundreds of years people have flocked to the Shrine of
Our Lady of Walsingham and to the town of Walsingham,
there whether they are on pilgrimage or just seeking peace
and tranquillity, Walsingham encourages inner reflection
and contemplation, on a spiritual journey in our ever
changing world.