the seal of the medieval priory

The Walsingham Archives

The Archives of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

 the modern logo

This website has been created to provide a way of accessing the Shrine's archives. We hope that it will particularly meet the needs of the later generations of pilgrims, and of those who never knew Walsingham in Fr Patten's lifetime, who are curious to know how it all started.

The history of the Shrine comes to life in the pages of Our Lady's Mirror and its successor journals: extracts from all editions of the Mirror are now on this site, 1926-1959. There are continuous additions to the pages of early photographs and early Shrine publications. New aspects of the history are also being added all the time.
the completed Shrine Church just before the Blessingof the extension on 6 June 1938
the completed Shrine Church just before the Blessing of the extension on 6 June 1938

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PHOTOGRAPHIC COPYRIGHT
All photographs on this site are thought to be copyright-free or are made freely available by the copyright owner, except where otherwise stated; these can be downloaded.
Where a photograph is credited, permission must be obtained before downloading. Contact can be made with the copyright owner by
mailing the archivist.  

eBay - Walsingham postcards
More and more Walsingham items are appearing on eBay. If we don't have the item in the archives and want it badly enough it might be bid for (out of private donations), but in the case of postcards all we need is a copy of the image. We don't need to buy it. If you are planning to bid for a postcard and would send us a scan, let us know.
1938 Film: the opening of the Shrine Church
A restored twenty-minute professional film of the outdoor events was premièred at the Partnership Weekend
on 15 February 2008.
DVD copies are available from the archivist at £10 inc p&p UK - overseas rates on application - at least £7 going to the Walsingham Appeal.
The DVD includes a copy on film of the illuminated Order of Service and copies of the description of the day from a local newspaper,
and Fr Patten's account in Our Lady's Mirror.
Contemporary descriptions of what is seen in the film are on the
1938 press cuttings page.

Common Place, 1938, drawn by Enid Chadwick

 We now send an email when significant additions are made to the site: contact the archivist to be added to the mailing list. Mails are sent to "Undisclosed Recipients", and no email addresses are shown.
 Search facility not yet available but contact the archivist for search results. The site appears to be very well indexed by Google.
Illustrations: top of page: (left) the seal of the medieval priory; (right) the modern logo; (below) the west front of the Shrine just before the Blessing of the new extension in 1938; three drawings by Enid Chadwick 1938: clockwise from top right: through the window of the Holy House; lighting up in the Holy House; the Common Place
through the Holy House window, 1938, drawn by Enid Chadwick

site last updated on 15 May 2008
the archivist will be in Walsingham 21-28 May

enquiries, comments and contributions and notifications of broken links etc
contact the archivist

© 2005-8 WCTA Ltd / IMFS throughout unless otherwise stated

lighting up in the Holy House, 1938, drawn by Enid Chadwick