During the summer Simon and I spent a day in Walsingham, not as part of an organised pilgrimage, but to see for ourselves the many churches and shrines that abound in this remarkable Norfolk village of less than a thousand souls. In 1061 the lady of the manor, Richeldis de Faverches had a vision of the Virgin Mary in which she was instructed to build a replica of the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth, containing a statue of the enthroned Virgin with the child Jesus on her lap. Over the next four centuries Walsingham became a centre of pilgrimage, rivalling Rome and Compostella, and in 1150 an Augustinian priory was built on the site. It was visited by every reigning monarch from Henry III in 1226 to Henry VIII, just a few years before he ordered destruction of the entire monastery. Only the east wall of the great church remains, and the extensive wooded grounds are much visited in early spring on account of the spectacular display of snowdrops.

We began in Great Walsingham, a hamlet on the outskirts of the main centre. The beautiful 14th century church has lost its chancel, but the interior presents a beautiful picture, full of light, with a complete set of mediaeval benches with traceried backs and little figures on the arms.

And so to Little Walsingham, where we saw in the Friday Market the brand new Catholic Church of the Annunciation, built in 2006 to the designs of Anthony Rossi. The exterior is dominated by a round tower built of flint, a pleasing echo of an East Anglian speciality. Inside there is an intensely devotional atmosphere, bright, but with very little natural light and just one stained glass window, incorporating a sculpture of the Crucifixion, behind the main altar. Both the heating and lighting installations are designed to use renewable energy.

Just a few steps away is the historic Methodist church, the oldest still in use in East Anglia, and dating from 1790, just a few years after John Wesley himself visited Walsingham. The interior is untouched, retaining its galleries and the dramatically high pulpit, set directly above the Communion Table. Next came a real oddity, the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Seraphim, set in the former railway station, almost unchanged outside except for an onion on the top!

Inside there is a vestibule and just one small room, dark and gleaming with gilded icons.

And so to St. Mary’s, the Anglican parish church. Except for the outer shell and the font, this was virtually destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1961. The interior was quickly rebuilt in exact imitation of the original and looks splendid. The centrepiece is the 15th century font, standing high on three steps, the topmost one in the shape of a Maltese Cross, whilst against the bowl are carved the Seven Sacraments and the Crucifixion. The stem is decorated with the Four Evangelists and the Four Latin Doctors, all standing under canopies.

A short walk back into the village took us the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, founded in 1931 by the vicar, Alfred Hope Patten. Externally it resembles an Italianate suburban church, while inside all is dark and mysterious, a labyrinth of small chapels and flickering candles leading to the Holy House, a representation of the house created by Richeldis. Immediately to one side is the beautiful Chapel of the Guild of Holy Souls, with its lantern roof. Here members of the Guild regularly pray for the souls of their departed members. The whole complex is surrounded by a beautifully kept garden, with space for outdoor services.

The Catholic Shrine of Our Lady is quite different. It is situated a mile outside Walsingham in the hamlet of Houghton St. Giles, where for six hundred years stood a wayside chapel called the Slipper Chapel, where traditionally Pilgrims were said to have removed their shoes to walk the final mile. It fell into disrepair, but was restored for Catholic use by Charlotte Boyd in 1890.

It was extended in 1934 with a Chapel of the Holy Spirit to cater for pilgrims wanting to light a candle, and the heat generated by hundreds of flickering flames is unimaginable. But it was not large enough to cater for the thousands of Catholics who visit the Shrine today, and in 1981 a new Chapel of Reconciliation was built on the same site, very much in the style of Snape Maltings concert hall.

It has seating for a thousand, and the glass wall behind the altar is retractable, allowing an equal number outside to take part in the Mass.

Finally, just across a ford through the River Stiffkey, stands the church of St. Giles, notable for its beautiful screen. On the north side are painted the Holy Kindred, St. Mary Salome with her two sons, The Virgin and Child, St. Mary Cleophas and her four children, St. Elizabeth and her son, John the Baptist and St. Anne teaching her daughter to read. To the south are six saints, three of whom were Popes and have been thoroughly defaced.

Very unusually, St. Giles was locked, because, we were told, some Irish gypsies were camped nearby. They had come to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption and we had seen them hanging out their washing right opposite the Slipper Chapel. But here at Walsingham of all places, where the feeling of holiness is all-pervading, locking them out did not seem like a good advertisement for the Church of England.

Tom Muckley, October 2007

First published in The Rock, the Parish magazine of St. Peter’s, Petersfield, St.Mary Magdalene, Sheet and St. Mary’s, Buriton.

tommuckley.co.uk