Today in the church calendar is Blessed John Henry Newman’s ‘optional memorial’. Next year it will be St John Henry Newman’s Day because this coming Sunday he is to be declared a saint by Pope Francis during an open air Mass in Rome. Newman is England’s first post-Reformation saint. He has left us his popular […]
Written by
Many church along the Pilgrims’ Way are preparing to observe harvest thanksgiving, or Harvest Festival, this Sunday.
Written by
As we approach Becket 2020 year a book is being published which will change what many look at on arrival in Canterbury. When pilgrims enter Canterbury Cathedral now they go to the Trinity Chapel behind St Augustine’s Chair to see the site of St Thomas Becket’s shrine. A single candle burns in the centre of […]
Written by
A group of history enthusiasts met on Sunday night outside the Mecure hotel in Winchester. This is where, in an earlier building, John Keats stayed two hundred years ago. On Sunday afternoon 19 September he walked out into the countryside before writing his his poem To Autumn. At lunchtime some of us had heard the […]
Written by
Two hundred years ago today John Keats wrote his poem called To Autumn. It was written on Sunday 19 September 1819 in Winchester about Winchester which for years has promoted a Keats Walk along the River Itchen from Winchester College to St Cross. New research suggests that his walk was not to the south but […]
Written by
The William Blake exhibition opening at Tate Britain today has a reminder of the artist’s interest in the Pilgrims’ Way. He started thinking about Chaucer’s characters in The Canterbury Tales in about 1806. However he was peeved when his friend Thomas Stothard allegedly stole his idea by signing deal with a publisher for a pilgrims’ […]
Written by
If passing through Kemsing in Kent between this weekend and St Edith’s Day Monday 16 September you may find flowers next to St Edith’s Well. On Sunday afternoon 8 September there will be devotions by the well at 3:30pm followed by Vespers in the church at 4pm. The Vespers of St Edith will premiere new […]
Written by
Next year 2020 is the 850 anniversary of Archbishop Thomas Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral. St Thomas was killed in his cathedral during Christmas week 1170. Just two weeks earlier the Archbishop had visited Southwark Cathedral, then a priory, and spent the night next door at the Bishop of Winchester’s house. Thomas already knew Southwark […]
Written by
How has the weather been this month on your walk to Canterbury? St Bartholomew’s Day is Saturday 24 August which is forty days after St Swithun’s Day. An old saying claims that if it rains on 15 July it will rain for 40 days but if it’s fine it will be dry for forty days. […]
Written by
St Martha-on-the Hill has a pilgrim stamp. The church, dating from 1100, is on a hill 570 feet above sea level with a view over several counties. It’s the next objective after crossing the River Wey outside Guildford. Afterwards you head for Shere where St James’s Church has the next stamp. St Martha-on-the-Hill is open […]
Written by