Walsingham

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Seal of the Medieval Shrine

The Anglican National Procession to Walsingham proceeds through the ruined abbey, May 2003.

This refers to the village, for other uses see Walsingham (disambiguation)

Walsingham is a village (actually two conjoined villages : Little Walsingham and Great Walsingham - the 'Great' referring to its age, rather than its size) and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is famed for its religious shrines in honour of the Virgin Mary and is a major pilgrimage centre. It also contains the ruins of two medieval monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). OS Explorer Map 251 - Norfolk Coast Central. ISBN 0319218872.

The civil parish, which includes the two Walsinghams together with the depopulated medieval village of Egmere, has an area of 18.98 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 864 in 397 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). [Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes]. Retrieved December 2, 2005.

Walsingham became a major centre of pilgrimage in the 11th century, following a vision of the Virgin Mary to Saxon noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches in 1061. Richeldis was instructed to build a replica of the house of the Holy Family in Nazareth, in honour of the Annunciation. The Holy House was panelled with wood and held a wooden statue of an enthroned Virgin Mary with the child Jesus seated on her lap.

Walsingham became one of Northern Europe's great places of pilgrimage, and remained so through most of the Middle Ages. A priory of Augustinian canons was established on the site in 1153, and grew in importance over the following centuries. Several English kings visited the shrine including Henry III (1231), Edward I (1289 and 1296), Edward II in 1315, and Edward III in 1361. The last English king to make pilgrimage there was Henry VIII, who was later responsible for its destruction. The shrine and abbey perished in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Eleven people including the sub-prior of the abbey were hanged, drawn and quartered. Gold and silver from the shrine was taken to London along with the statue of Mary and Jesus, which was burnt.

The fall of the monastery gave rise to the anonymous 16th Century poem the Walsingham Lament, which includes the lines:

Weep Weep O Walsingam,

Whose dayes are nights,

Blessings turned to blasphemies,

Holy deeds to despites

Sinne is where our Ladye sate,

Heaven turned is to helle;

Satan sitthe where our Lord did swaye,

Walsingham O farewell!

In the 20th Century, as a result of the inititative of the Anglican priest Fr Alfred Hope Patten, Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox Marian shrines have been re-established in Walsingham, and pilgrimages are held through the summer months. The Anglican National Pilgrimage takes place on the Spring Bank Holiday (the Monday following the last Sunday in May), but the highlight of the year is arrival of the Student cross pilgrimage on Good Friday.

References

External links

[Map sources] for Walsingham.
[Information from Genuki Norfolk] on Walsingham.
[Walsingham Parish Council website]
[Walsingham Shrines website]

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Walsingham

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References

External links