With the approach of Advent we can soon start to follow in real time the weeks before the murder of Thomas Becket 850 years ago. At the start of December the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket returned to from exile in France by landing at Sandwich in his diocese. His ride into Canterbury through cheering […]

Monday 26 October is Alfred the Great Day in the Anglican and Winchester City calendars marking the King of West Saxons death in 899. Alfred was a pupil of St Swithun and like his teacher is a key figure in Winchester’s history. We come across Alfred at the start of the PW when passing through […]

The Royal Oak, the first pub out of Southwark on the Pilgrims’ Way, has reopened this evening. Arrivals are finding the pub repainted outside and in with the downstairs feeling light and airy. Without the old curtains there is now a view of the street. The present Royal Oak is a well-preserved Victorian building standing […]

Those who have had to put off their Becket 2020 year pilgrimage may like to watch the live broadcasts from Winchester, Southwark, Rochester and Canterbury Cathedrals. It is an opportunity to worship with the congregation and take in the architecture and history in anticipation of the pilgrim visit to come. Winchester’s Sunday Sung Eucharist is […]

Lesnes Abbey is now stamping pilgrim passports. The stamp features the pike from the arms of abbey founder Richard de Lucy who knew Thomas Becket . The de Lucy fish were part of the abbey seal. Pike in Latin is lucius which is a reference to the Lucy name. Pilgrims arriving in Canterbury will find […]

Wednesday 16 September is St Edith of Kemsing Day. The annual devotions take place on the Pilgrims’ Way at St Edith’s Well in Kemsing next Sunday at 3.30pm. Due to the virus only this outdoor event will take place. There will not be the usual vespers in the church or tea.

St Bartholomew’s Day 24 August is forty days after St Swithun’s Day on 15 July. Is summer coming to an abrupt end? How much has it rained? All the tears that Saint Swithun can cry, Saint Bartlemy’s dusty mantel wipes dry You will come across churches dedicated to St Bartholomew at Hyde Abbey, on the […]

On seeing the new Britain’s Pilgrim Places book one turns first to see the Pilgrims’ Way entry. But the book has a lot more and many diverting entries. It’s a candidate for a definitive work. This is a British Pilgrim Trust book by Nick Mayhew-Smith and Guy Hayward. The photographs are by Marcus Green who […]

Oscar Romero is the 20th-century Thomas Becket. Archbishop Romero was killed in a church by the El Salvador dictatorship because it did not like his defence of human rights . The St Oscar Romero national shrine is in St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark (opposite the Imperial War Museum). Pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury […]

Published this month, between the 800th anniversary of the Translation of St Thomas Becket in July and the 850th anniversary of his murder next December, is a book which would have been part of the Becket 2020 programme. But the pandemic has not stopped the appearance of this lovely hardback Penguin The Book in the […]