Wonderful Walsingham

This year in A Level Philosophy of Religion, both Years 12 and 13 have been studying religious experience. Knowing us well, Ms. McCleave booked us a trip to Walsingham, a pilgrimage site in Norfolk, known as England’s Nazareth.

We arrived at school bright and early on the Friday morning, excited about the weekend ahead. Our first activity was a walking tour with the education department’s John Evans, who gave us our first proper peek at Walsingham. We started with the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, learning about the fascinating history surrounding it and the story of Richeldis de Faverches’ vision which led to the building of the Holy House, a replica of the house in Nazareth in which the angel announced Jesus’ impending birth to Mary. The shrine is exquisite and we all enjoyed a few peaceful moments before visiting the other small chapels; one memorable sight being a ceiling painting of Jesus’ feet poking out through the clouds as he ascended to heaven! Our tour continued into the village of little Walsingham where we visited the stunning Russian Orthodox Church (which used to be the old pilgrims’ station) and the little Methodist church.

Later that afternoon we met Bishop Lindsay, the Bishop of Walsingham (formerly vicar of St. Faith’s in Red Post Hill and now firmly established as a “legend”). He spoke to us about religious experience and a very interesting discussion ensued. The exam boards may be surprised to find the Bishop of Walsingham and Richeldis hesrelf used a lot more than usual this summer!

After these educational and intellectual exploits, we explored the village and invited to meet the locals at the Bull Inn (claiming '90% home cooked food' – we did wonder about the other 10%), only to find ‘James Allens Girls School (note the incorrect use of apostrophes), plastered across the welcome board.

After an early start the next morning, we rushed to meet Sister Jane Louise. She began by explaining her journey that led her from heavy metal and depression in the 80’s to finding God. This prompted a discussion on what happiness means to us - very profound for a Saturday morning!

We thanked Sister Jane and began the Holy Mile walk – the last mile of the historic pilgrimage to Walsingham. Initially, one or two may have expressed horror when “walk” and “mile” coincided in the same sentence, although these doubts evaporated in the middle of the beautiful and peaceful countryside. When we reached the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady, our guide filled us in on the some more history. One of the most surprising things we were told was that when Charlotte Boyd bought the site in 1895 and restored it for Catholic use, the Roman Catholic Church displayed a distinct lack of interest, to put it mildly! Most of us attended a lovely mass, where again we were warmly welcomed by name, (one or two of us inexplicably opting for the alternative offer of a Lewis/Allgrove revision session. The sunshine and ice-cream must have swung it!)

We loved the two contrasting depictions of the Virgin Mary on the stained glass windows on opposite walls of the lovely slipper chapel, one of her as the darker-skinned Palestinian woman she must have been and one looking more traditionally English.

Bravely, we marched back along the Holy Mile barefoot, like traditional pilgrims, to the sprinkling service, the highpoint of which was the priest offering us holy water from the well that is said to have sprung up where Richeldis had her vision. 

Most of us spent the free time we had before the “bells and smells” of the Pilgrims’ Mass, in the village, perhaps visiting the farm shop, buying the local “stinking bishop” cheese and making an extended stop at the ice cream parlour.

The evening torchlight procession was really atmospheric. The preceding service began with yet another honour for JAGS: Bishop Lindsay had invited Nikki, Naa and Rose to sing, which clearly added to the religious experience of the assembled pilgrims. As we processed around the gardens, accompanying the statue of “Our Lady of Walsingham”, from the Holy House, we held candles and sang hymns. This was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of the trip.

Having slept like logs we woke to yet another beautiful day in the Norfolk countryside and swiftly set off to the museum, old courtroom and house of correction. After many a judicial pose for the camera, we ventured into the stunning Abbey ruins where we saw the sight of the original Holy House, before it was destroyed during the Reformation. Following several rounds of ‘Pooh sticks’ (and Miss Allgrove’s disputed victory), we headed back to the shrine to have very civilised lunchtime drinks with Bishop Lindsay and Sister Jane Louise.

This trip provided an amazing opportunity to learn about and engage with religious experience.  However, time was ticking by, so with heavy hearts we traipsed to the coach without even the consolation of ‘New Moon’ as the DVD player on the coach wasn’t working!

Instead, we resorted to reflection and our thoughts turned to returning next year (hint hint).

Maddie Taylor and Olivia Murphy, Year 12

Please see Gallery for more photos.