Friday 21 December is St Thomas Becket’s birthday. He was was baptised Thomas because his birth was on the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle. The naming after Thomas was always a matter of great importance to the archbishop. The apostle is now remembered on 3 July rather than in Advent. Thomas Becket was born […]
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The Pilgrims’ Way just misses the centre of Compton in Surrey although it passes the Watts Gallery’s teashop. But on arriving at the road, and before turning left for the gallery and teashop, you could turn right and walk for about three minutes to the cemetery. The round cemetery chapel, known as the Watts Chapel, was […]
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John Butler’s book on Archbishops of Canterbury is now out. This is a 112 page Pitkin paperback. Professor Butler is a Canterbury Cathedral guide and the author of The Quest for Becket’s Bones so the chapter on Thomas Becket is especially interesting. We know that Henry II probably did not say: “Who will rid me […]
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Murals in the Old Kent Road will be removed and put in storage if a demolition plan is approved. The mosaics by Adam Kossowski (1905-1986) were completed in 1965 and adorn the former North Peckham Civic Centre. Depicted are people known to have travelled the Roman road to and from Canterbury. Adam Kossowski’s work is […]
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The Bull at Otford stands in the High Street close to the point where the two PW routes from London and Winchester come together. The pub was built around 1512 by and for the builders and craftsmen working on the massive rebuild of Archbishop Warham’s Otford Palace. So in a way it has been a […]
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This Saturday there will be a National Mass of Thanksgiving in St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Southwark for the recent canonisation of St Oscar Romero. On the day of the canonisation in Rome last month there were many references to St Thomas Becket. Oscar Romero was, like Becket, murdered in church for making a […]
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On Friday 16 November I shall be giving talk about walking the Pilgrims’ Way at The Royal Oak in Southwark. The Royal Oak, in Southwark’s Tabard Street behind St George the Martyr Church, is the first pub on the ancient route after Borough High Street and can claim an interesting heritage. The illustrated talk, Walking […]
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Flowers were laid on St Edith’s Well in Kemsing during the morning and afternoon on Sunday. St Edith’s Day started with a procession from the parish church after the main morning service. The singing could be heard in the old Post Office (now Kemsing Italian Deli and Coffee Shop). In the afternoon a Roman Catholic […]
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This year St Edith’s Day falls on a Sunday so celebrations at Kemsing are on the actual day: 16 September. Kemsing is by the Pilgrims’ Way just east of Otford so pilgrims from both London and Winchester pass the village. Many stop to see the well, church and call at a pub. Edith, born at […]
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This Friday St Bartholomew’s Day 24 August is the fortieth day after St Swithun’s Day. Swithun is the saint of forty days sun or rain fame. We have had forty days of sun but it was a little out of kilter starting too early and ending too early. In Suffolk there has been 51 days […]
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