Walsingham, Norfolk (religious history and mystery)
A few miles inland from the Norfolk town of Wells-next-the-Sea is the ancient village of Walsingham, a popular pilgrimage for religious retreats. Read Paul Kingsnorth’s lovely piece on visiting England’s Nazareth.
Norfolk boasts more churches than anywhere on earth, so you won’t have to look for to spot a medieval church or spire, even if some lay abandoned. This is due to the strong history of the Catholic faith, before Henry VIII came to power.
Today, Walsingham is an ecumenical site with both Roman Catholic and Anglican shrines, which draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.
That would be an ecumenical matter (Father Jack Hackett- a phrase used to dismiss any difficult question on church discussions!)
Walsingham Abbey grounds are 18 acres, with woodland and trees, and spectacular displays of snowdrops (although dogs are allowed in the grounds, snowdrops and all bulbs are not safe, so avoid if you have flower-nosey pooches).
The medieval architecture makes this little village stand out. The 14th century buildings were built in a grid layout for the benefit of pilgrims, and there were two markets (now long gone) to buy food.
The old prison was built on the site of a former leper hospital, and there are numerous little churches. The tiny orthodox church was built from the old railway station, and one of the Catholic churches is the first in England to be carbon-neutral, with solar panels for electricity, and a deep-bore heat exchange system.
The village is also home to ‘little sisters of Jesus‘, a community of around 900 religious women who live in 50 countries. One writes a lovely story on their website:
After giving up her career as a paleontologist, she travelled to Wells to examine fossils on the beach. Meeting a dying man on his last holiday, they struck up a conversation and she told him ‘Keep courage and see you one day’. She went home, and knew she would never see him again.
Seven years later, he approached her – now healthy and married to his wife (the nurse who looked after him). He had kept the fossil she had given him and remembered her words. She writes that now she knows ‘God didn’t take her love of rocks away’ – instead He uses them as a means to give her people!’
Just 4 miles from Wells-next-the-Sea and Fakenham, the nearest railway station to Walsingham is Kings’s Lynn (about 25 miles away).
