Bibliography

Bibliography

To offer a bibliography of 'Walsingham', even a select one, is a daunting task. Which of the many Walsinghams - the devotion, the shrines, the village, medieval, modern ...

A major bibliography is in preparation, but for the present our main priority is to get as many of the archive documents and photographs on to the website as possible. Therefore this list will not appear for some while, but the archivist is always happy to answer enquiries about books of Walsingham interest.

go to list of Education Department publications below

Other core books on differing aspects of Walsingham include:

P J Goodrich, Walsingham, its History and its Shrine (1937)
H M Gillett, Walsingham, The history of a Famous Shrine (1946)
J C Dickinson, The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham (1956)
Claude Fisher, Walsingham, A Place of Pilgrimage for all People (1983)
Arthur Bond, The Walsingham Story (1988)
Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, The History and Spirituality of Walsingham (1995)
Peter Rollings, Walsingham: England's Nazareth (1998)
Elizabeth Ruth Obbard, Every Pilgrim's Guide to Walsingham, 'England's Nazareth' (2007) [based on her two earlier books - the one listed above and A Walsingham Prayer Book]

For anyone interested in the wider history of Walsingham the collection of papers, entitled WALSINGHAM: Pilgrimage and History (1999; ISBN 0 9502167 6 3), is worth reading. The papers were first presented at the Centenary Historical Conference of the Roman Catholic National Shrine in March 1998. It is available at the Roman Catholic Shrine bookshop at the Slipper Chapel, and perhaps elsewhere. As well as papers on the medieval shrine and modern Roman Catholic developments, there are substantial articles on the history of the village. The final paper by Fr Peter Cobb on the development of modern day pilgrimage details very succinctly the modern history of both shrines.
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The autobiography of Father Bruno Scott James, Walsingham's first Roman Catholic priest and first custodian of the Slipper Chapel since the Reformation, has many references to the village and to both Shrines, in particular in Chapters 7 and 16. (Bruno Scott James, Asking for Trouble (1962))
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The biography of another famous vicar of Walsingham (1882-88) has only two references to Fr Patten, and his fame derived from his carol compositions and revival of plainsong, not from the village; but his vicarage was where Fr Patten later lived and in Chapter 3 we can picture life there in the 1880s. There is also a photograph of him playing the euphonium outside the vicarage. The author was also a former vicar of Walsingham.
John E Barnes, George Ratcliffe Woodward 1848-1934, Priest, Poet and Musician (1996)

SOME OF THE BEST-KNOWN BOOKS ABOUT THE SHRINE ARE:

England's Nazareth, A History of the Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
[written by Donald Hole in 1939, extensively revised by Colin Stephenson and others in later years and with many editions following]

Colin Stephenson, Walsingham Way (1970) and Merrily on High (1972)
[the first is a biography of Fr Patten and the second the autobiography of the author, who was his successor as Master of the Guardians and Administrator]
reprints are expected in October 2008

John Barnes, Alfred Hope Patten (1983); originally published by the Church Literature Association as number 5 in their 'Oxford Prophets' series; reprinted later as a booklet

ed Peter Cobb, Walsingham (1990)
[compilation of articles and photographs mainly from Our Lady's Mirror and The Walsingham Review recording the development of the Shrine]

Martin Warner, Walsingham, An Ever-Circling Year (1996)

Michael Yelton, Alfred Hope Patten and the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham an illustrated biography (2006)

ed Philip North and John North, Sacred Space (2007)
[eight essays exploring ideas that underlie the historic connections between place, holiness and travel: originally delivered as lectures at a series of study days in 2006 organised as part of the Shrine's 75th anniversary celebrations]

new
Michael Yelton, Alfred Hope Patten: his life and times in pictures (2007)
[some of the photographs that had to be left out of Yelton's major biography in 2006: there is also an introductory Short Life]

new
[Professor] Ursula King, England's Nazareth: Pilgrimages to Walsingham during the Middle Ages and Today, was written as part (pages 527-541) of a publication by the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich to accompany a pan-European exhibition called 'Pilgrimage Knows No Frontiers' [Wallfahrt kennt keine Grenzen](1984)

Despite its having been described as "the best overview of Walsingham ever written", a copy of this paper only recently surfaced in the archives and seems little known elsewhere. For copyright reasons we cannot reproduce it on this website, but if anyone wishes to borrow our copy of the paper - we do not have the book - please contact the archivist.

OTHER BOOKS WITH SIGNIFICANT WALSINGHAM REFERENCES ARE:

Chapter 7 of Francis Penhale's Catholics in Crisis (1986) is entirely about Walsingham; notes and references are on pp 163-165.

There are several pages on Walsingham in Chapter 7 of Michael Yelton's Anglican Papalism (2005), and it is referred to on pages 19-21 of the same author's Peter Anson: Monk, Writer and Artist (also published 2005). Anson's 1931 drawing of the Holy House is on page 66.

Bishop Eric Kemp's published memoirs - Shy but not Retiring (2006) - contain references to Walsingham, although sadly the book has no index. See pp 246-247.

In This Sign Conquer (2006), a history of the SSC, has no index of places, but there are references to Walsingham throughout the book. The name index includes many well-known 'Walsingham' priests, but note that it does have errors and omissions.

People, Places and Things (2006), a souvenir book of photographs to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Society of Mary. Many of them have Walsingham connections.

A Fair Young Curate (2007: ISBN 978-0-9553361-0-2) is an annotated edition, by his son, of the diary of Fr Frank Wain for the year 1938. Pages 43-51 describe a week in Walsingham in July, giving the reader a glimpse of everyday life in the village and Shrine. The whole diary gives a vivid picture of ordinary church life at that time, alongside the growing national unease at the prospect of another Great War.

The picture above is of a corner of the Library [still in St Augustine's] that Fr Patten created, after many appeals for books to be donated by readers of Our Lady's Mirror.

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The Education Department produces a variety of resources for teachers, parents, children's leaders and children, all written and compiled by Janet Marshall, the Shrine's Education Officer. Currently available (from the Shrine shop or online) are:

Pilgrims and Pilgrimages (2002 - book)

in pack form:
Medieval Pilgrim Character scripts KS2 2003
Medieval Pilgrim Text cards Lower KS2 2003
Medieval Pilgrim Text Cards Upper KS2 2003
Tudor Character Scripts 2003
Victorian Character Cards 2003

Pod & Ezzie on Pilgrimage (2003 - book))
Pod & Ezzie Walk the Holy Mile (2005 - book)

Special People, Special Places (2005 BRF Barnabas Books)
making connections between Christian pilgrimage and everyday life

Stations of the Cross for children and young people (2007 - in pack form and as a CD rom)

Acting Up and Reading Out (2004)

School Assemblies Tried and Tested (2006)

Footsteps of Faith (2005 DVD/video) written by Janet Marshall/filmed by BNT Productions
More Footsteps into the world of pilgrimage and faith (CD rom/ and available as a book with a set of colour images)

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