A highlight of this month’s Canterbury Pilgrims Festival was hearing author and walker Cecilia Baker speak about how she became a pilgrim. She told of arriving at Canterbury Welcome Centre having walked without any guidebook or even leaflet along the rough route of the Pilgrims’ Way. “Are you a pilgrim?” asked the person on duty. […]
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St Dunstan’s Church, the last church on the Pilgrims’ Way before Canterbury’s West Gate, now offers a pilgrim stamp. This is a landmark church holding the head of St Thomas More who emulated Thomas Becket. It was here, outside the porch, that Henry II removed his shoes to walk barefoot to St Thomas Becket’s temporary […]
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If you are walking the Pilgrims’ Way through Godmersham this Sunday afternoon 16 June you can stop for tea in Godmersham Park. Teas are being served in the Orangery in aid of the church which has a small sculpture which may have come from Canterbury’s Thomas Becket shrine. The garden is open 1pm to 5pm; […]
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If you have been watching Pilgrimage: the Road to Rome on BBC2 you may be interested in reading the guide. The Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome is the continuation of the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester or Southwark. Alison Raju’s The Via Francigena Canterbury to Rome – Part 2 has the route being followed on […]
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Pilgrims sometimes wandered off the main route in bad weather to seek less muddy tracks. In some places it became general to take a parallel path in order to visit a holy place or accommodation such as Boxley Abbey. It is for such reasons that the guidebook will in future advise walkers to take a […]
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If you are walking the Pilgrims’ Way on Sunday afternoon 7 April heading for Chilham you can stop for tea at Godmersham Park. The PW runs through the parkland and this Sunday you can also look around the formal gardens next to the mansion known to Jane Austen. Teas and refreshments in the Orangery are […]
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Royal Oak landlords Frank Taylor and John Porteous have left after years of playing a pivotal role in the community by supporting the arts, heritage and Pilgrims’ Way. The Royal Oak in Southwark’s Tabard Street now starts the new year with a new team. This is the first pub out of Southwark on the Pilgrims’ […]
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The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham from the Slipper Chapel in Norfolk is at St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark until Saturday 23 February. This is a rare event and the accompanying exhibition has much resonance for those interested in the Pilgrims’ Way. Other centres of pilgrimage are highlighted including Aylesford on the […]
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The best place to be with resonance on St Valentine’s Day must be Southwark Cathedral. It has the splendid tomb of John Gower who was one of the first, if not the first, to write a love poem associating mating birds with 14 February. His friend Geoffrey Chaucer, who knew Southwark well, wrote about love […]
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Andrew Ramsey, Rector of Oxted on the PW, is today to be made a Bishop. Oxted in Surrey is on the Winchester to Canterbury PW route but his consecration as bishop takes place at Southwark Cathedral which is the start of the London route. Oxted means place of the oaks so the parish has given […]
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