This summer a small but fascinating display of medieval pilgrim badges can be found just inside Southwark Cathedral’s main entrance opposite the river.bc weather

Included are three 14th-century Thomas Becket badges, one being an ampulla, and a 15th-century example.

A rare find is a Boxley Abbey badge depicting its famous rood which had moving figures operated like puppets. Pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury would have stopped at Boxley shortly after crossing the River Medway.

Today little remains of the abbey which is now a residence.

But the pilgrims still divert to an alternative lower route at Boxley as if still visiting the abbey which had accommodation. Now pilgrims walk through a vineyard above the monastic site to Boxley village which has an ancient church opposite a pub.

Also in the display are badges from Rocamador in France, Chester, Willesden and Windsor (for Henry VI who was nearly proclaimed as a saint.)

The badges are on loan from Colin Torode of Lionheart Replicas.

Admission to Southwark Cathedral is free.

The hidden Franciscan Gardens in the centre of Canterbury is maturing year by year as its restoration continues.

An interesting feature is the meadow next to Greyfriars Chapel which straddles a braid of the River Stour. The grass remains uncut all summer allowing a cycle of flowers to appear.

Winchester Cathedral is keeping St Swithun’s Day Friday 15 July with a Festal Eucharist.

The service begins at 5.30pm. The setting is Stanford in B flat and the preacher is The Dean.

On the following day Saturday 16 July the annual Friends of Winchester Cathedral Evensong is at 4.30pm and will include a procession to St Swithun’s Shrine.

The guest preacher is the author and priest Fergus Butler-Gallie.

Both services will be broadcast live via the cathedral’s website.

The Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury falls on Thursday 7 July and will see the usual pattern of services familiar before Covid.

The Translation marks the moving of Thomas Becket’s body from the crypt to the shrine upstairs on 7 July 1220.

Eve of The Translation Wednesday 6 July

5.30pm First Evensong of the Translation at Canterbury Cathedral.

7.30pm Annual Commemoration of St Thomas More at St Dunstan’s Church (on PW) in Canterbury. Speaker: Past Law Society President Linda Lee.

Translation of St Thomas Thursday 7 July

8am Eucharist at Altar of Swordpoint at Canterbury Cathedral.

12 noon Mass at St Thomas of Canterbury RC Church in Burgate. Streamed live via website.

5.30pm Solemn Evensong and Procession at Canterbury Cathedral. Streamed live via cathedral website.

8pm Roman Catholic Sung Mass in Canterbury Cathedral Quire.

‘Oh Nice, splendid,’ was the Queen’s reaction when told that the Elizabeth Line will go to Abbey Wood.

Crossrail, to be known as the Elizabeth Line, will be a help for many walking the Pilgrims’ Way in stages.

The eastern end of the Elizabeth Line is Abbey Wood Station which is close to Lesnes Abbey. For many the abbey is the halfway destination on day two out of London.

Trains leaving Abbey Wood will pass through central London within minutes and reach Paddington in under half an hour

The line opens on Tuesday 24 May and will at first operate Monday to Saturday.

Directions from station: Turn right out of the station and go down steps to walk along the shopping street. Go left into Abbey Road, passing under a bridge, and right into New Road. Just after Monks Close (left) turn left into Lesnes Abbey grounds.

Directions from Lesnes Abbey: Leave the abbey grounds by passing Lesnes Abbey Lodge (right) and follow the path ahead to New Road. Go right to turn left into Abbey Road. Pass under the bridge to go right into the shopping street (Wilton Road). At the end either go up the steps or take the lift to the station entrance.

Arresting posters in the London Transport tradition have been produced to promote travel to PW stations in the Darent Valley.

The posters are by designed by Tim Higginson using scenes by Kit Boyd.

They were commissioned by the Darent Valley Community Rail Partnership which brings together SouthEastern, Thameslink, Community Rail Network, Railtrack and Darent Valley Landscape Partnership Scheme to promote local rail travel.

The Eynsford poster shows the viaduct which pilgrims pass under between the village ford and Lullingstone Castle.

The Shoreham picture owes much to artist Samuel Palmer, who roamed the valley’s countryside at night, and includes a reference to the rabbit he met and drew.

Otford is promoted with a delightful interpretation of the famous view across the only roundabout pond to the church and palace.

Posters are being sold at Bat & Ball Station but to register an interest in buying posters online contact the Partnership.

NOTE: The Partnership decided from its formation to use the name Darent for the valley rather than the more confusing Darenth Valley. The River Darent flows through Otford, Shoreham, Lullingstone and Dartford to join the Thames.

Geoffrey Chaucer supposedly started on his pilgrimage on 18 April in 1387.

On the walk into Canterbury from the West Gate to the cathedral you pass his statue.

Opposite is Eastbridge Hospital for pilgrims whose first master was Becket’s nephew Ralph. Today his successor is a Franciscan.

Next to the Hospital, and opposite the Weavers’ House, is an easily missed shop. This is the access to the little-known Franciscan Gardens which have reopened this Easter.

The first Franciscans, or Greyfriars, arrived in Canterbury in 1224, just four years after the Translation of St Thomas to his new shrine in the cathedral and fifteen years after the order had been established by St Francis.

In the centre of the garden and straddling the river is the Greyfriars Chapel built in 1267. It was probably at first another pilgrim dormitory. Today there are second hand books on sale on the ground floor below the chapel.

Upstairs the Anglican Eucharist is celebrated every Wednesday at 11am as the water flows under the little building.

On its south side there is wildflower meadow and on the north, where the chancel of the community’s church stood until 1544, is a ‘symbolic love garden’.

The £6 admission charge is part of fundraising to complete urgent conservation work.

However, during National Lottery Open Week, Monday 21 to Sunday 27 March 2022, entry is free entry to visitors who show a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard at the entrance.

Anglican Franciscans are now in residence and it is hoped that the garden will have further matured for the 800th anniversary of the arrival of the first Franciscans in two years’ time.

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The First Miracle Window: Becket’s Earliest Pilgrims in Canterbury Stained Glass by Rachel Koopmans is a new 35 page booklet.

It has beautiful illustrations of the windows made just fifteen years after the murder of Thomas Becket.

The stained glass is found in the ambulatory embracing the Trinity Chapel where the Becket shrine stood.

But the scenes depicted are before this shrine was created in 1220. The pictures are thought almost certainly to be based on the records of Abbot Benedict of Peterborough who had been part of the Canterbury priory community in 1170 and witnessed the first pilgrims arriving a few years later.

There is a sense of crowd comprising of all classes wishing to throng the narrow streets and cathedral crypt. Already the early arrivals are wearing yellow pilgrim purses. One window depicts the queue for pilgrim water.

There is a lovely collection of pilgrim boots looking like Christmas stockings.

Until recently these lights were thought to be maybe Victorian. Such a conclusion was partly because they had been taken out occasionally and slightly altered. Heads were replaced and one even improved as a women’s head.

Leone Seliger, director of the cathedral’s stained glass studio, adds a handy afterthought with a digital correction suggesting how the windows probably appeared when new.

Medieval historian Dr Koopmans is an expert on Becket’s miracles.

You may wish to buy this booklet on arriving at Canterbury. It is light enough to carry and much cheaper when purchased on site than buying by post which almost doubles the price.

The First Miracle Window by Rachel Koopmans is published by Out of the Box Publishing; £6.99.

It’s encouraging to know that it has been possible to publish a new Good Beer Guide for 2022 and that it has already sold out.

This year’s highlighted Pilgrims’ Way pubs are on the Southwark-Canterbury leg.

The nearest one to Southwark Cathedral is The Market Porter where on some weekday early mornings you can have ale at breakfast like the early pilgrims.

The Royal Oak in Tabard Street, known the first pub on the Pilgrims’ Way, has ‘a range of beers…unusual for London’ as well as their own Harvey’s.

A surprise is finding a mention for The Bull on top of Shooters Hill which means it must be on the up. It introduced pizzas cooked and served in the garden during the pandemic.

An interesting entry for Rochester is The Coopers Arms dating from 1189 and once part of the cathedral’s monastic estate.

Rochester’s Golden Lion Hotel, a Wetherspoons in the High Street and often very busy, is listed with the added attraction of handy accommodation.

If you approach the last church before Canterbury feeling tired you might find The Eight Bells in London Road tempting. But be warned the only food is Sunday lunch.

The Good Beer Guide (Camra Books; £15.99)

An oil painting depicting the downstream scene at Wouldham is included an exhibition at the Russell-Côtes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth.

It is the work of Geoffrey Baker (1881–1959) who may have painted the scene, featuring a steam tug and Thames barge, before the Second World War.

The artist was a founder member of the Bournemouth Arts Club which is celebrating its centenary with an exhibition of noted artists associated with its history.

Wouldham, opposite Halling, is on the path to Rochester Cathedral and today the church is seen from the new Peters Bridge river crossing on the way to Aylesford.

A Century of British Art is at the Russell-Côtes Art Gallery in Bournemouth until 6 March; admission £7.50.