Lammas Day is on Thursday 1 August. This is the original ‘harvest festival’ dating from Anglo-Saxon times when thanks is given for the first fruits rather than just in the autumn when all is gathered in. “It provides us with time to pause and reflect on our connection with the agricultural world and the source […]
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St James’s Day is Thursday 25 July when many pilgrims will be attempting to arrive at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Some of those pilgrims start out from England on the Pilgrims’ Way to go via Canterbury. St James the Great is the patron of pilgrims and his shell is a universal pilgrim logo seen […]
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Just as the Translation of St Thomas at Canterbury earlier this month fell on a weekend so St Swithun’s Day 15 July is a Monday. The focus is now Winchester Cathedral where Saturday 13 July is the annual Friends of Winchester Cathedral Festival. Saturday’s Festival Evensong at 4.30pm is followed by a procession to the […]
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Choral Evensong at Southwark Cathedral this Wednesday 10 July will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. The cathedral will be closed over lunchtime from 12.45pm to 2.30pm for rehearsals. Those wishing to be present for the broadcast at 3.30pm should be seated by 3.10pm. The broadcast marks the retirement of Peter Wright who has been […]
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If you are walking from Winchester to Canterbury today and are about to reach Merstham in Surrey you will find lunch available as you pass along the usually quiet Quality Street. The annual Quality Street Fayre is today Saturday 6 July There is a ‘food court’ and beer tent selling local ale. Also lots of […]
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Lavender is beginning to appear in the fields of Castle Farm in the Darenth Valley. The path from London to Canterbury runs past the lavender south of Lullingstone Castle near Shoreham. The annual July purple spectacle has only been enjoyed in recent years as the lavender was planted at the beginning of this century. Lavender […]
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The annual Blessed Sacrament procession at Lesnes Abbey takes place on Sunday 30 June. The tradition of a Corpus Christi procession here goes back to the beginning of the last century when the abbey was still being excavated. Then the procession included Bostall Woods. Although the Corpus Christi feast day was last week it is […]
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The 2019 Translation of St Thomas Becket day falls at the 6/7 July weekend and marks the moving of the saint’s body from Canterbury Cathedral crypt to the shrine upstairs in 1220. The main events and services in Canterbury are below: Saturday 6 July, Eve of Translation 11.15am Pageant enters West Gate to pass along […]
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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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