Today Friday 15 August is The Assumption of Mary.

Once the day was known as Our Lady of the Harvest and today it is a holiday in many countries although in England now it is little noticed.

Upper Foyle in Hampshire is rare in having its 13th-century church dedicated to St Mary of the Assumption. This is probably because its patron at the time was Winchester’s St Mary’s Abbey, Nunnaminster.

It is interesting how important the doctrine was considered at that time since it was not finally defined, and the 15 August made a major holy day, until 1950. However, King Alfred the Great of Wessex (871-899) had made the day a holiday.

The 19th-century lord of the manor was Sir Hubert Miller who with his wife spent the autumn in Venice, winter in Rome and spring in Florence.

So he was home for The Assumption and saw that his church had the best vestments from Italy.

Sadly there is no Assumption celebration in the church today nor any service next Sunday.

But the church is usually open for pilgrims to see some of the vestments on display and the window featuring Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals.

Upper Foyle is on the Pilgrims’ Way out of Winchester between Alton and Farnham. Statues of saints are attached to the estate houses.

St Radegun’s Day is Wednesday 13 August which is a good date to visit Canterbury’s Parrot Inn. This is the city’s oldest pub and has a strong claim to having been accommodation for pre-Reformation pilgrims from 1370.

The late 14th-century hall house building is the former St Radigund’s Hall belonging to St Radegun’s Abbey (with an e) near Dover.

St Radegund was a 6th-century German princess and a vegan who founded Poitiers Abbey.

The ‘oldest pub’ claim comes from the understanding that it was an inn or hostel.

Many of the inns in Southwark were permanent London lodgings belonging to a diocese or monastery but open to pilgrim guests when not needed by the bishop, abbot or prior.

A hostel can be collection of buildings and it is known that the Abbot of St Radigund’s main house was at the end of Duck Lane opposite today’s pub. The site is behind The Dolphin in St Radigunds Street. The hostel complex, just beside North Gate, appears to have straddled the city wall.

Canterbury’s Parrot pub, little visited by tourists and opposite a section of the city’s Roman wall, is found down the very narrow Church Lane off The Borough.

The building returned to being a place of hospitality only in 1987 after a long closure and is now in the hands of Shepherd Neame who brew the Pilgrims’ Way ale known as Bishop’s Finger.

The pub’s present name, first used here in the 19th century before lapsing, is inspired by mention of a parrot in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

The Parrot, 1-9 Church Lane CT1 2AG is open all day.

Canterbury Cathedral now issues an accreditation for the pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas Becket.

This is the equivalent of the Compostela issued to pilgrims arriving at Santiago de Compostela with a well stamped credential or pilgrim passport.

Canterbury’s Pilgrimage Certificate bears the signature of the Dean of Canterbury The Very Revd David Montieth.

Pilgrims arriving at Canterbury Cathedral should ask at the reception, alongside the Christ Church Gate, to see the Pilgrimage Officer.

Pilgrims’ Way passports are available from the cathedral shop at Southwark Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral.

Pilgrims arriving at Canterbury Cathedral this summer have been surprised to see a textile hanging behind the high altar and in front of the Thomas Becket shrine site.

To some it may look slightly familiar. Is there a London bus seat or a tube train seat somewhere in the middle?

The work, called Moon Landing, is an immersive music and textile collaboration.

The inspiration is the little-known story of the women who wove the integrated computer circuits and memory cores which enabled the 1969 moon landing.

The 52 foot hanging is by British textile artist Margo Selby who is responding to the moon landing score, an original musical piece, by award-winning composer Helen Caddick.

But thoughts of buses and trains are not out of place for Margo Selby has been commissioned by London Underground and worked with the London Transport Museum in creating a unique fabric to highlight the long relationship between London Transport, good design and moquettes.

Her distinctive bath mats, towels and duvets are available from John Lewis.

There is already a poll for the weather next Tuesday 15 July, St Swithun’s Day. A popular rhyme claims that if it rains on 15 July it will rain for forty days

This is Winchester Cathedral’s patronal festival and those starting out on the Pilgrims’ Way may wish to be aware of the special occasion.

Evensong followed by a procession to the shrine in Winchester Cathedral is next Saturday 12 July at 4.30pm when many Cathedral Friends will be present.

The First Evensong of St Swithun is at 5.30pm on Monday 14 July.

On St Swithun’s Day the Eucharist is at 12 noon and Festal Evensong at 5.30pm.

Evensong is live streamed via the Cathedral website.

*** The 15 July is the Translation of St Swithun recalling his body being moved on this day in 971 from the outside burial ground into the Old Minster (outlined in grass on cathedral’s north side). The body was moved again twice: in 1093, into the new cathedral, and in 1096 within the cathedral -always on 15 July.

***If you are setting out from Southwark Cathedral you will find St Swithun and St Thomas Becket depicted together among the saints on the great screen behind the high altar.

Saturday 5 to Monday 7 July is the Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury weekend.

On Saturday there is the Canterbury Medieval Pageant with a parade and many pilgrimage theme activities.

On Sunday the focus is on the Cathedral where the First Evensong of the Translation is at 5.30pm.

Later that evening, as always on the eve of the translation, St Dunstan’s Church (the last on the PW before West Gate) at 7.30pm hosts the annual St Thomas More lecture. The day is the anniversary of his martyrdom in 1535.

This year’s speaker is mediaeval historian Professor Robert Bartlett.

Monday 7 July is The Translation marking the day in 1220 when Thomas Becket’s body was moved, or translated, from the cathedral crypt to the specially built shrine in the main church. This was to be the focus of international pilgrimage for more than 300 years.

Solemn Evensong at 5.30pm is followed by a procession to the shrine site.

At 7pm Solemn Mass will be celebrated by the Papal Nuncio and will include a Blessing with St Thomas Becket’s relics. Entry is by free ticket available from Jubilee 2025/Pilgrims of Hope.

‘His death and subsequent canonisation continues to have an impact upon the cathedral and community of this city and diocese.’

There is a rare chance to see inside the surviving tower of Otford Palace over the midsummer weekend Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June.

The Tudor palace, built for the Archbishop of Canterbury, was the model for Hampton Court Palace.

Open free from 11.30am to 4pm.

Otford is where the Pilgrim paths from Southwark and Winchester meet.

A Jubilee Year Pilgrim Mass was celebrated at St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark on Monday at the start of a week-long walking pilgrimage to Aylesford Priory on the Pilgrims’ Way.

Joining the Roman Catholic pilgrims were several Anglicans from Southwark Cathedral.

‘We have a really special and strong bond between our two cathedrals,’ said Southwark Cathedral sub-Dean Michael Rawson speaking in St George’s. ‘It’s been nurtured over many years and it’s really bearing fruit, good fruit, as we walk together this path of unity in Christ.’

The celebrant was the Dean of St George’s Canon Michael Branch who reflected that Pope Leo’s motto was We are one in one Lord.

Afterwards the congregation walked to Southwark Cathedral by way of The Precious Blood Church which has a stamp for pilgrim passports.

The cathedrals are linked by the one mile Romero Way.

After refreshments in Southwark Cathedral’s library the walkers gathered in the church nave, which had been cleared of chairs, for a pilgrim blessing.

Pilgrim passports can be obtained from Southwark Cathedral Shop.

There is a Pilgrim Mass at Southwark’s Roman Catholic St George’s Cathedral (opposite the Imperial War Museum) on Monday 2 June at 10am.

This marks the start of the Jubilee Year pilgrimage to Aylesford which is on the Pilgrims’ Way to Canterbury.

All starting out tomorrow independently on their way to Canterbury are welcome to start their own pilgrimage at this Pilgrim Mass.

The preacher will be Canon Michael Rawson, sub dean of the nearby Anglican Southwark Cathedral.

Afterwards pilgrims are invited to walk to Southwark Cathedral on a one mile route known as the Romero Way.

Refreshments will be available at the cathedral where passports and guide books can be obtained from the shop.

NOTE: After Southwark Cathedral, Jubilee Year pilgrims to Aylesford will at first be following a route by the river to Greenwich as an alternative to the traditional Old Kent Road exit from London.

The Jubilee Celebration Day is at Aylesford Priory on Saturday 7 June, eve of Pentecost.

Actors dressed as the ‘Saints of Southwark’ have posed for a photograph outside St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark.

They will be appearing again during the Southwark Archdiocese’s Jubilee celebration day at Aylesford Priory on Saturday 7 June.

The saints include many encountered on the Pilgrims’ Way between Southwark and Canterbury.

If you start at St George’s Cathedral you will find the shrine of St Frances Cabrini who worshipped there. Pope Leo XIII sent her to New York where she is famous for helping poor immigrants.

St John Fisher is one of Rochester’s saints.

St Simon Stock’s relics are at Aylesford Priory.

St Dunstan’s church is the last on the PW where you find the head of St Thomas More, John Fisher’s companion.

St Mildred’s is an ancient church in Canterbury.

St Alphege was invoked by Thomas Becket as he faced death by the sword.

Thomas Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral is of course the climax of the walk.

They are called the ‘Saints of Southwark’ because the Roman Catholic Archdiocese also embraces Kent. The Anglican Southwark Diocese is not as large although it includes parts of Surrey and the branch of the Pilgrims’ Way coming from Winchester.

**As part of the Jubilee Year there will be a Pilgrim Mass at St George’s Cathedral on Monday 2 June at 10am. This will be followed by a walk along the Romero Way to Southwark Cathedral (Anglican) which was visited by Thomas Becket.