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.

Those starting their pilgrimage to Canterbury from London at the beginning of June may be interested to know that there will be a Pilgrim Mass at Southwark’s Roman Catholic St George’s Cathedral on Monday 2 June.

Canon Michael Rawson, Sub Dean of the nearby Anglican Southwark Cathedral, is the preacher.

This will mark the start of a special five day Southwark Jubilee Pilgrimage 2025 to Aylesford which will largely follow the Pilgrims’ Way.

After the 10am Mass participants are invited to follow the one mile Romero Way to the Anglican Southwark Cathedral for refreshments and a pilgrim blessing.

The Aylesford walkers will then be heading for Greenwich and Chislehurst before following the Pilgrims’ Way from Shoreham on day four. Independent pilgrims can follow the traditional way out of Southwark along the Old Kent Road.

Note that there may not be any spare accommodation at Aylesford Priory for those continuing to Canterbury.

A free supply of drinking water is now available in Canterbury’s Longmarket Square.

To find the new Portland stone and stainless steel column, where you can fill a bottle or flask, walk just 80 yards beyond the Mercery Lane turning to the cathedral.

The £150,000 feature is a gift to Canterbury from the city’s Rotary Club to mark its recent centenary.

The twelve foot high column was unveiled by Lady Colgrain, the Lord Lieutenant of Kent before the Lord Mayor Jean Butcher tasted the water.

On the column are the words: ‘Behold ye, how these crystal streams do glide, to comfort pilgrims by the highway-side,’ from John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progess.

The designer is architect Andrew Clague, the church conservation expert, whose work includes the masterplan for Peters Village on the Pilgrims’ Way.

It is spring and holiday time when pilgrimages start again. But when did Chaucer’s fictional pilgrims set out from Southwark on pilgrimage?

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales says April:

‘When in April the sweet showers fall/And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all/The veins are bathed in liquor of such power/As brings about the engendering of the flower.’

Several dates have been suggested including 15, 16 and 17 April

The long poem was written during the 1380s.

Close study of the text finds hints of the zodiac and mention of 18 April. In the introduction to The Man of Laws tale there is:

‘He knew quite well it was the eighteenth day/Of April that is messenger to May.’

If the arrival was on 18 April then they all set out around 12 or 14 April.

Is the year 1389 when Easter Day was 19 April -almost like this year 2025? Did Chaucer imagine them riding during Holy Week?

This year’s first pilgrims arriving in Canterbury on Holy Saturday will find the Easter Vigil and First Eucharist of Easter starting at the cathedral in the gathering darkness at 7.3Opm.

Secrets of the Thames: Mudlarking London’s lost treasures opens today at the London Museum Docklands.

This, the first major exhibition on mudlarking, features 350 objects including pilgrim souvenirs.

Becket badges are often found in the mud having been thrown into the water by returning pilgrims keeping it is claimed an old tradition. This exhibition includes a rare pilgrim souvenir as well as a Becket badge.

The souvenir is an image of St Thomas riding on a peacock mounted on a stick. The date is 1300-1500

Secrets of the Thames at the London Museum Docklands continues until 1 March 2026; admission £18. The nearest station is West India Quay DLR.