Enquiries

We welcome enquiries and comments: please contact the archivist preferably by email, or
by post to The College, Walsingham, Norfolk NR22 6EF.
The following enquiries have been received since the site was launched in July 2005: the most recent appear first.
Comments added later, that elaborate or correct a previous answer, are in bold italic: our thanks to everyone who enquires and everyone who contributes additional details.

for a list of the subjects covered, click here

Q50: What is the origin of the Pilgrim Hymn?

A: The version we have been singing for nearly forty years is the second one. The first (click here to read it) was written by Sir William Milner at some time before the publication of the first Pilgrims' Manual in 1928, where it appears on page 61. After Fr Patten's death his successor Fr Colin Stephenson revised it into the form we know today, and it was first used in 1959. We do not know how Sir William (who died in 1960) felt about the alterations.

Q49: We have just returned from a visit to the Holy Monastery of St John on the Greek Island of Patmos. Among the many items on display in the splendid Museum of Christian artefacts is a silver undated medal simply labelled 'Walsingham County'. There is no other explanation. My first reaction to this exhibit was that it came from somewhere in the USA but on reflection, and as it was displayed next to two medals presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury and one from HM The Queen, I think it may have been presented to the Monastery by someone from the Shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham. I would like to find the connection, if any, and then contact the Abbot to ask him to correct the label. Have you any information?

A: Most of the answer to this came soon afterwards when a photograph of the actual medal was made available. It was instantly recognisable as a modern medal of an Honorary Guardian. The next question is: whose was it and how did it get there, as in normal circumstances such a personal item would not be presented to any museum. Our thanks to Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, who on his recent visit to Patmos found the answer. The medal is in a special case at the Museum dedicated to the medals and decorations given to Archbishop Athenagoras II of Thyateira and Great Britain who was head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in this country from 1963/4 until his death in 1979. These were among the possessions he left to the monastery after his death. He made several visits to Walsingham and although it is not certain that he was formally appointed an Honorary Guardian, it seems clear that the medal was given to him by Fr Colin Stephenson. Bishop Kallistos has had the label rewritten.

Q48: How does the Shrine come to have so many stones from abbeys, priories etc within the Holy House walls and elsewhere?

A: When the Holy House was being built in 1931 Fr Patten appealed for gifts of these stones. The Holy House altar was constructed "chiefly from the ruined Priory of Our Lady of Walsingham" together with a few of the stones from other religious houses. Some were incorporated into the walls of the Holy House, as we see clearly today (Benedictine houses in the north wall, Augustinian in the south), and others were built into the chantry of Edward I (dedicated 4 September 1936). Stones continued to be sent to Walsingham and the rest were used in the Shrine Church high altar (1938).

Q47: Why is there no Links page on this site?

A: As in compiling the eventual Bibliography, we could not compete with superb examples elsewhere. In our opinion there is no better Catholic and Walsingham-oriented Links page than that of the Forward in Faith site, compiled by Fr Len Black.

Q46: Are you planning to do anything about the medieval Walsingham priory eventually?

A: Yes. The view at the moment is that it is vital to get Fr Patten's restoration recorded as far as possible in this form - his lifetime is the real timescale. In most classes of document the web is expected to cover up to about 1960: there are obvious copyright and personal issues to consider when one gets nearer to the present day. One exception is the Walsingham Review, from which we hope to put extracts on this site for many years after that. As to medieval Walsingham, we obviously have no archives of the period but we shall be listing the whereabouts of such as survive in places like the British Library and The National Archives (formerly The Public Record Office), and any other material that is known, as well as a bibliography and accounts of archaeological research. At present on this site there are pages covering the early Walsingham Ballads, and photographs of a Priory deed (1537) owned by the Shrine. Following requests we are now raising the priority of the medieval period, and work has started on locating and studying surviving documents: transcripts of the core documents will appear in a medieval section of this site. And if copyright issues can be settled, it is hoped to complement our own work with that of John Dickinson, a name that will be well known to any student of medieval Walsingham.

Q45: Do you know who the deacons of honour were who carried Our Lady in the Translation procession and whose faces are so familiar to us from the photograph of the procession leaving from the parish church?

A: We know two. The one nearest the camera is Fr Frank Harwood, curate of Radwinter, Essex, who led many pilgrimages to Walsingham from Oakworth and from Radwinter (where he was later incumbent). The one visible at the back is Fr Frank Burnett. He was a curate at St Peter Parmengate and St Julian's in Norwich, and died when the hospital ship HMS Barham was sunk by enemy action in the Second War. He contributed articles to Our Lady's Mirror about a chaplain's life at sea during the war. If anyone can identify the third, and knows who the fourth was - not shown in this picture - please contact the archivist. We also know now that the server on the right looking back at the procession is Leslie Gray Fisher, onetime General Secretary of the Catholic League and wearing here the collar of the Fraternity of Our Lady de Salve Regina, a parish guild of St Magnus the Martyr.

Q44: Richard Hill was once a familiar figure in Walsingham, especially as manager of the Shrine Shop, and he was a friend of Fr Lingwood. Was he also a 'local boy' from the village, like Fr Lingwood?

A: No, but his life was so linked with and almost predestined for Walsingham that one might well have thought so. His home was Torquay, but in the 1940s Fr Patten encouraged him to use his vestment-making talents in the service of the Shrine: his superb skill in this was eventually well known far beyond Walsingham. The archives show that as far back as the 1950s Fr Patten had it in mind that Richard should come and manage the Shrine Shop, although this did not happen until Richard's family business closed in 1972 and he was able to move to Walsingham. Fr Lingwood was indeed the 'local boy', but left Walsingham in 1956 to become vicar of Barton, a village just outside Torquay - thus the friendship. Richard retired from the Shop in 1988 but continued as a server, frequently MC, in the Shrine. Eventually he moved to the Sue Ryder Home at the old vicarage, and died there in 2003 at the age of 91. He is buried in St Mary's churchyard.

Q43: We have just celebrated the anniversary of the opening of the Holy House. What were the boundaries of the 1931 building in relation to what we see today?

A: The west front, with the porch through which we enter, is the one side that is as it was in 1931. Once inside, both sides have been extended with cloisters, and the east end was extended in 1937-8 when the Shrine Church was built. In the tiles on the floor just beyond the Holy House there is a line of writing across the width of the church showing where the 1931 building ended. see also Question 29 below

Q42: What are the diamond-shaped shields high up above each cloister in the Shrine Church?

A: These are called hatchments, and old ones can be seen in many parish churches. In past centuries when a person entitled to bear arms died, a hatchment with his or her coat of arms on it - following heraldic rules - was hung outside the residence for up to a year and then hung permanently in the parish church. This practice continued in some places into the twentieth century. The hatchments in the Shrine Church were put up to commemorate some of the early Guardians. With good eyesight one can make out the surname and the dates, which are the dates of their time as Guardians: hence many start with 1931.

Q41: Whose are the heads high up in the roof above the nave of the Shrine Church? It is very hard to see them from below.

A: Yes, but easier in some combinations of the lighting. They are the likenesses of six people intimately concerned with the founding of the modern Shrine and the restoration of Anglican pilgrimage: Fr Patten, Sir William Milner, Bishop O'Rorke, Fr Lingwood, Mother Sarah and William Frary. A head was made of the reigning monarch at the time of the building - Edward VIII - but was never used because of his Abdication.

Q40: When was the red-brick entrance gate to the Shrine gardens built?

A: The gate was part of the whole left-side extension to the Hospice [now called Stella Maris House] and joined the two accommodation buildings. The extension was finished and in use in 1956, and the final part of the project - the gate - was completed soon afterwards, in 1957. see also Question 52 above

Q39: Was Archbishop Runcie the first Archbishop of Canterbury to visit Walsingham (officially) since the Restoration?

A: Yes, but Archbishop Michael Ramsey preached at the National Pilgrimage two years earlier in 1978, after his retirement.

Q38: Where did the phrase 'Walsingham Way' originate and what does it really mean?

A: The Oxford English Dictionary gives its first appearance c.1878 in Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, The Loss of the Eurydice*, but its origins go back much further. The Milky Way galaxy was known to medieval pilgrims as the Walsingham Way because as they saw it in the night sky it seemed to point towards Walsingham, indicating the right road. In the Hales and Furnivall edition of Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript of Ballads and Romances (1868), they quote "The Milky Way pointed directly to the house of the Virgin, in order to guide pilgrims on their road; hence it is called the Walsingham Way, which had its counterpart on earth in the broad way which led through Norfolk." Apart from its familiar uses in our Walsingham context, it occasionally appears in other literature as an alternative title for the Milky Way.
[*"A starlight-wender of ours would say The marvellous Milk was Walsingham Way"]

Q37: Is there a biography of Fr Colin Stephenson?

A: His own autobiography was published in 1972 (Merrily on High, DLT; ISBN 0 232 51182 9), two years after his Walsingham Way, a biography of Fr Patten, his predecessor. The only other biographical material we know of is the appreciation written in the Walsingham Review in 1973 after his death by Fr Charles Smith, reprinted in Fr Peter Cobb's Walsingham (1990).

Q36: Years ago when I first came to Walsingham there was a garage where the Shrine shop now is. When did that close?

A: The property known as Bunn's garage was acquired by the Shrine in 1987. The oldest part of the building is a medieval timber-framed structure, which is important historically. At the time they acquired it the Guardians were beginning to realise that while the number of pilgrims was rapidly increasing, fewer people living in the village were able to take in pilgrims as in the past. They had to look to providing more accommodation in the Shrine's own property, as we now see brought to fruition twenty years later, with the exciting prospect of more to come.

Q35: What are the ground measurements of the Holy House?

A: In 1936 Fr Patten wrote in Our Lady's Mirror (Summer Number) : "The Chapel is 23 feet 6 inches long by 12 feet 11 inches wide, the same size as the original Holy House, which was built in 1061 in the reign of St Edward the Confessor."

Q34: When did the practice of giving a scapular to each new member of the Society of OLW die out, and why?

A: It was given up in 1973. From the Walsingham Review, June 1973: "For some years now it has been almost impossible to keep pace with the demand for scapulars and the Guardians have decided that this should now be replaced by a pin badge of simple design. This is being put in hand and badges will be made available as soon as the problems of design and manufacture have been worked out. In medieval times the scapular was a symbol of the monastic obligation to the religious life and was never to be removed; so those who prefer to wear it close to their skin must take care!" Occasionally the archives here receive a scapular from the relatives of a deceased member of the Society. There are several in our collection, as well as examples of the pin badges. They were always pale blue - larger (about 3" X 4") in later years. Until 1960 they were purchased from Burns & Oates, the picture of Our Lady then being sewn to one side by the Shrine staff before being sent for presentation by the Cell Superior.

Q33: (a) Is there such an order as "Episcopal Guardians" at Walsingham? (b) I cannot see Mervyn Stockwood's name in the Lists of Guardians?

A: These two separately-asked questions are taken together because they are related. I don't know where the phrase came from but I think it's a muddling of the status of the "Honorary Guardians", of whom Mervyn Stockwood was one. In 1946 the constitution of the Guardians was amended to include a number of Honorary Guardians who by their interest and expertise could advise the Guardians in particular matters while not having the responsibilities of serving on the full body. Some of these have been bishops - e.g. Mervyn Stockwood, Keith Ackerman; but so have many full Guardians - e.g. Mowbray O'Rorke, Gerald Vernon, John Klyberg, David Hope. All of these named could be described as episcopal Guardians, with a small 'e'. There is also a category of Guardian Emeritus, also instituted in 1946, which can be bestowed on retiring Guardians.

Q32: When did the St Hilary's Home close?

A: The Guardians had no alternative but to close the Home in 1977. Changes in welfare service provision made a home such as this no longer viable, or needed. It then became a popular Bed & Breakfast establishment, but is now a private house.

Q31: When was the Guild of All Souls Chapel built?

A: In 1965. The Guild of All Souls had been trying without success to find a site for a chantry chapel since 1873. When this one was chosen, the foundation stone was laid in June by the Bishop of Exeter, and the finished chapel consecrated by the Bishop of Fond du Lac in October. The architect was Laurence King, who was also Warden of the Guild at that time. In 1977 a chantry priest was appointed by the Guild.

Q30: When was the previous Refectory built?

A: In 1968. The first Refectory was in what is now known as the Pilgrims' Hall, but by the 1960s the increasing number of pilgrims necessitated the building of a new kitchen and refectory, which was situated at the top of the garden. In turn that became outdated, and the present Refectory was opened in 2001.

Q29: When were the two cloisters on either side of the Holy House built?

A: Fr Patten had wished that after his death a recumbent effigy of himself be placed on the Gospel side of the High Altar. As the Shrine church did not seem large enough, it was decided to build a cloister along one side (the liturgical north) of the Holy House, and this was completed in 1964. The effigy is there, at the top of the well. This cloister gave such a sense of space and light that another was built on the opposite side, in 1972, to mark the Golden Jubilee [of the setting-up of the Shrine in the parish church]. see also Question 43 above

Q28: In the parish church what happened to the picture of Our Lady that was put up in the place of the original statue after its translation to the new Shrine church in 1931?

A: The picture, painted by Clifford Pember, was destroyed along with everything else in the disastrous fire of July 14th 1961.

Q27: Thinking about our Queen's approaching eightieth birthday, I am wondering if any members of our royal family have visited the restored Shrine at Walsingham.

A: The names of two living members come to mind straightaway. The Duchess of Kent came to open St Joseph's Wing in 1985, and Princess Alexandra to open the new refectory in 2001. The Duchess was known to be a pilgrim, and attended the National Pilgrimage in 1980. A less well-known figure was Princess Marie Louise (died 1957), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She visited as a pilgrim frequently before the War. She claimed to be "the first of our family to visit Walsingham since Henry VIII". Prince Charles made a private visit in 2002. Princess Margaret made a private visit while Fr Colin Stephenson was Administrator - the Shrine was closed for the occasion.

Q26: When did pilgrims from outside the UK start visiting the Shrine?

A: There had been interest from parishes in other countries from the beginning of the restoration, particularly in Australia, Africa and America, but the first specific mention of visits in Our Lady's Mirror is in the 1929 Spring/Summer number: "Priests from America are beginning to find their way to Walsingham, one conducting a weekend pilgrimage for Holy Cross, St Pancras, and two visiting with pilgrims from Yorkshire."

Q25: When was St Joseph's wing of the hospice opened?

A: October 4th 1985. There are photographs taken on the day in the Review of December 1985. It was opened by the Duchess of Kent, who had previously visited the Shrine on several occasions.

Q24: Has any formal biography of Fr Patten been published?

A: Fr Colin Stephenson's Walsingham Way contains the most material on Fr Patten's life published so far. Fr John Barnes, vicar of Walsingham 1977-89, wrote a short life for the CLA's Oxford Prophets Series (number 5) in 1983: this ran into several editions under other imprints. Fr Peter Cobb contributed the entry for him in the New Dictionary of National Biography. The important news is that a major biography is in preparation by Michael Yelton, the well-known writer on twentieth-century Anglo-Catholic history, whose most recent work, Anglican Papalism, was published in 2005. This is now available (price £20; ISBN 1 85311 753 6).

Q23: Lord Halifax never visited the Shrine. Did the other aristocratic original Lay Guardian, the Duke of Argyll, have any closer involvement?

A: We do not know - yet. If anyone can give any information, please contact the archivist. He is referred to three times in Fr Colin Stephenson's Walsingham Way, but not in connection with his role at the Shrine. Surprisingly there is no full obituary of him in the appropriate Our Lady's Mirror, although it must be added that the lives of many of the Guardians passed without obituaries being printed in the Walsingham journals.

Q22: Did John Betjeman write about Walsingham?

A: We have not found anything, although someone thinks that he wrote a piece for a Foreword to a guide book, or similar. The 1959 edition of Donald Hole's book, brought up-to-date by Fr Colin Stephenson - England's Nazareth: A History of the Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham (1939) - has its Foreword by John Betjeman. Bishops Mervyn Stockwood and Eric Kemp contributed Forewords to other editions. He included a five-minute section about Walsingham in his 1974 television programme 'A Passion for Churches'.

Q21: When was the railway line to Walsingham closed?

A: In October 1964. It had opened in 1857. After several mentions of the threat of closure in previous copies of the Review, finally in the edition of December 1964 (no. 14) the Administrator (Fr Colin Stephenson) wrote: "Mr Beeching has had his way: the last train to Walsingham has rattled away. This does make life a little difficult both for those who live here and for visitors. But one can still get to the Shrine. Buses now run from Norwich and from Dereham, and current time-tables can always be obtained from the Shrine Office. It seems a topsy-turvy kind of progress which enables man to shoot round the world in a few minutes when it now takes two hours to cover the twenty odd miles from the nearest main-line station!"

Q20: I have heard that relics from Walsingham were placed within the High Altar of St Alban's, Holborn, at the time of that church's restoration and reconsecration (after War damage) in 1961. Is this true?

A: I can find no mention of this in the Walsingham Reviews of the time, and it was probably too small a detail of Walsingham life to be noted there in any case. I don't know quite what the relics would have been - perhaps some of the many relics already given to Fr Patten in the past? If anyone can shed any light on this, please contact the archivist. Oct 2007 A priest has responded to this: "When I was vicar of a parish in Birmingham we had a document dated early 1950s indicating that the relic under the altar stone in our High Altar was of S. Vincent and had been taken from the Shrine relic of the same saint by Fr Patten. I seem to remember that he had signed the document. When I was a young priest in the 1970s older clerics told me that Fr Patten distributed relics in the same way to other parishes." Thus the story may well be true even though your date of 1961 is after Fr Patten's death. Perhaps it had been in the church's possession already, before the damage, and survived it.

Q19 : I'm interested in the artists who have decorated the Shrine Church. The name of Enid Chadwick is mentioned a lot, and the name Anthony Baynes was mentioned in an earlier answer on this page. Were they employed to work at the Shrine, or commissioned? Did they have a connection with the Shrine already before they did the painting work?

A: Enid Chadwick, who died in 1987, had lived in Walsingham for over fifty years, and her artistic work can still be seen all around the Shrine church and in numerous Shrine publications, many in print today. Her famous map appeared in the first Mirror of 1935, soon after she came to Walsingham, and is now on this website (click here). From Fr Charles Smith's obituary for her in the Review after her death: "She had completely identified herself with all that [Walsingham] stands for, and it is difficult to think of it without her. She came here from Brighton in 1934 [having studied at Brighton School of Art]. ... She could not have foreseen the next fifty years, the way in which she would become completely identified with the Shrine church, but she had just those abilities that Fr Patten could use. ... Enid's painting and her personal style have made this Shrine Church what it is, and her mark is everywhere. The reliquary of S Vincent may be modelled on that of S Ursula in Bruges, but it was Enid who conceived the designs and the heraldry which ornament it. The mysteries of the faith, the lives and legends of the saints are set before us in a way all can understand. ... Her decoration is direct, and full of devotion; it may be derivative, but it has passed through the mind and hands of someone we all knew who had dedicated herself to the Shrine and its witness, and that witness will speak to many for years to come." Anthony Baynes painted at least a few pictures in the Shrine chapels, but we seem to know little about him or his work. If anyone can tell us more about him please contact the archivist.

Q18: When did Parcevall Hall become the Bradford diocesan retreat centre?

A: In 1964. It had been owned by Sir William Milner (1893-1960), the Shrine's greatest benefactor, and was designed by his architect partner Bernard Craze, who was also the architect of the Shrine. Sir William bequeathed Parcevall Hall to the Shrine. The diocese of Bradford continues to maintain it as a retreat centre. The beautiful gardens that he created there are open to the general public. (The gardens' website is currently unavailable.)

Q17: I am interested in Fr Baverstock, whose picture is in the Guardians' Gallery. I thought that there were two brothers, both priests and Guardians.

A: This photograph is of Fr Alban Baverstock, vicar of Hinton Martel, who was one of the original Guardians appointed in 1931. He died in 1950. He had a brother, Fr Francis Baverstock, vicar of Holy Cross, St Pancras, under whom Fr Patten served his title. He was an Honorary Guardian. The Baverstock family lived near, and worshipped at, St Alban's, Holborn, in the time of Fr Stanton.

Q16: Apart from the fact that it is a good idea to hold a regular event on the same date each year, is there any reason why the late May Bank Holiday was chosen as the weekend of the National Pilgrimage?

A: The weekend chose itself in that it is the anniversary of the blessing of the new Pilgrimage Church (the core of what we know today). The Holy House and its covering outer chapel were completed in 1931, and the new nave and chapels were blessed by Bishop O'Rorke in the presence of a large crowd of pilgrims on Whit Monday, June 6th, 1938. After that the great 'National'*, as it came later to be known, was held annually on Whit Monday. When in 1971 the 'late May Bank Holiday' was fixed on the last Monday in May, which does not necessarily coincide with Whitsuntide, the National's date then had to be attached to the secular holiday. It has been held at that time every year except in 2001, when it had to be cancelled because of the Foot & Mouth crisis, and in 2002 when it was moved to the first weekend in June. This was in line with all national May bank holiday events that year which were transferred so that people could have two consecutive holiday days, the second being given to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. It was also transferred in 1982 so as not to conflict with the Pope's visit to England, and was held on August Bank Holiday, August 30th.
*The use of the word 'National' started in 1959 when the Master (later Earl) of Lauderdale, then President of the Church Union and also a Guardian, wrote to the Church Times urging people to join a pilgrimage on Whit Monday 1959 which he described as the "first National Pilgrimage in the history of the Church of England to the Shrine of the Incarnation at Walsingham." The 'Centenary Pilgrimage' in 1933, to celebrate the centenary of the Oxford Movement, was advertised at the time as a National Pilgrimage with that specific intention, but that was well before the idea of annual pilgrimages for all was thought of.

Q15: The April 1926 number of OLM mentions property in the High Street "between the Abbey Gateway and the Church" purchased by the Shrine as a future pilgrim hostel - the Hospice of SS Michael and George - and then in Spring 1931 we read that it is to close. Where was it, and how could any building location be usefully described as being between the Abbey Gateway and the [parish] church?

A: I've been waiting for this question to be asked, and have been trying hard to find the answer myself before it arose. I haven't yet puzzled it out. When I was in Walsingham recently I made strenuous enquiries, but even those who have lived longest in the village and knew Fr Patten well, drew a blank. There will of course be an answer one day, when I have time to study ancillary records relating to the village, but for now I invite anyone who has ideas - or better still actual knowledge, or can ask someone who might - to let us know by contacting me. I feel that there ought to be a small prize for this one. We now have the answer. In OLM Autumn Number 1953 we read: "The new Hostel for those at work from S Hilary's is in occupation. The house is situated in the High Street and several years ago belonged to us, and was known as SS. Michael and George. Before that in pre-reformation days it was part of a pilgrim hostel and known as the Dower." We know for certain that this hostel (run by Fred and Pearl Shepherd, parents of John) was on the west side of the High Street: it is now known as "Shields". A few doors down from "Shields" is a property called "Dow House", and this may be where the word "Dower" has come in. This hostel could indeed be described as being between the Abbey Gateway and the Church, but so could dozens of others, and we had assumed (wrongly of course) that it was on the same side as the Gateway...

Q14: What is the Halifax Altar?

A: Viscount Halifax (1839-1934, father of the statesman the 1st Earl of Halifax) was one of the first Guardians of the Shrine, and supported it in many ways although he never visited it. (Given his age, this was hardly surprising.) His two daughters were regular pilgrims. In 1933 he had an altar pavilion built for a single Anglo-Catholic Congress High Mass at Hickleton, his family seat near Doncaster. Afterwards he presented it to the Shrine as an outside altar, where it was used until 2004. Click here to go to photographs and history. By 1960 it had fallen severely into disrepair and was given a major refurbishment in that year. It has now been replaced by the Altar of The Mysteries of Light, details of which can be found on the main Shrine site.

Q13: I have heard that the Salvation Army once had a citadel at the Shrine. Is this true?

A: A barn on the site was converted in the 1930s into the first Pilgrim Refectory. Before this the barn had been used as a Friends' Meeting House, and later as a Salvation Army Hall. Perhaps this is the origin of what you have heard.

Q12: I'm interested in the altar painting in St George's Chapel in the Shrine (the chapel of the Agony in the Garden). I assume that it was Enid Chadwick who painted it. And I have seen two slightly different photographic versions. Have you any information about why it was changed?

A: Although much of the painting in the Shrine is indeed by Enid Chadwick, it was Anthony Baynes who painted this picture. I am going to Walsingham at the end of October and will find out what I can. All I could do on my visit was to confirm the minor differences between published pictures in the 1960s, and now. My own opinion is that in the original painting the angels' wings were thought to be too close behind Our Lord, distorting His image, so part was redone. I am still making enquiries. (Meanwhile, if anyone knows anything more about it, please contact the archivist.)

Q11: Looking at the pictures of the early pilgrimage groups posing in the Vicarage garden, with Fr Patten, I would like to know where the Vicarage was, and does it still exist?

A: The Vicarage is currently part of Sue Ryder Care*. Leave the village past the Shrine, with Knight Street on the left, and go up the hill - and you will see it across the fields from the road (the entrance is on Scarborough Road, the road to Great Walsingham). It was also the home of the Sanctuary School, which will feature in later extracts from Our Lady's Mirror. In due course a page on this website will give a short history of the house. The house is no longer a Sue Ryder Home. It is at present (January 2007) shut up and empty and the residents have been moved elsewhere: three of them have died since moving. The property is now up for sale at over £1m. *The Sue Ryder Walsingham websites (the Care Home and the Retreat House) have been left abandoned on the web. March 2007: It has just been sold, but there is a change from that previously announced. It has now been bought by developers to be converted into eleven holiday flatlets.

Q10: Why was Stella Maris once called "Stella Maris Hospice"?

A: The word 'hospice' originally meant a place of hospitality, a hostel or refuge, especially one kept by religious, and was therefore a very suitable description for the early pilgrim accommodation when the Shrine was set up. The later part of the twentieth century saw the emergence and growth of the nationwide hospice movement, where the word came to mean a place for the tending of the terminally ill. The Stella Maris Hospice was renamed Stella Maris House in 1993.

Q9: When did Fr Patten set up the image in the parish church, before the Shrine church was built? I know that the statue was taken to the new Shrine on October 15th 1931, and I have always thought that the restoration started ten years before that. But I have come across a leaflet published by the Shrine Office in 1972 that says "1922 Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham placed in the parish church".

Q8: When did the Orthodox start their connection with the Shrine Church?

A: On Whit Sunday 1944 the Orthodox Chapel of Theotokos was consecrated by Bishop Sava of Grodno (the Orthodox Chaplain General of the Polish forces in this country). Some references give the actual day as Whit Monday, but it is referred to as Sunday in OLM. At that time Walsingham had just been again put into a wartime 'banned' area, so no pilgrimages were possible from outside East Anglia. We assume that some Orthodox managed to attend.

Q7: When did Fr Reggie Kingdon die, and where is he buried?

A: Fr Kingdon, well known as the vicar of St John's, Isle of Dogs, was one of the original Guardians, from1931 to 1949, and a Guardian Emeritus until his death in 1955. We have not yet found out where he was buried (and if anyone can help, please contact the archivist).

Q6: What is the history of the cloaks and chains we see worn by the Guardians in procession at the National Pilgrimage?

A: from Fr Peter Cobb's book, 'Walsingham' (Bristol 1990), page 86:
The Guardians' distinctive insignia only gradually evolved. The blue mantles were first worn in November 1938; their stars were struck in 1947. The Master's silver gilt chain was presented by Fr Fynes-Clinton in October 1933. see Our Lady's Mirror 1933

Q5: Reading the extracts [on this website] from the Mirror I can't work out where the Shrine is. Were there two in different places?

A: This confusion is the result of seeing history unfold too slowly through the medium of the Mirror. The extracts have reached 1930 and at this time the Shrine is in the parish church: Fr Patten was vicar of Walsingham. In the next few issues we see the gradual building of what we now know as the Shrine church, culminating in Fr Patten's descriptions in the Autumn Number 1931 of the translation of the statue from the parish church to its own Holy House within the Shrine church. We shall be celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of this event next year [2006] during the weekend of October 14th and 15th. For an outline history see the Shrine's main website page, 'The Story So Far'. The extracts are now complete and the story can be read in full.

Q4: Talking recently with a friend about Walsingham in the 50s we seemed to remember that there was a religious community of men living at the Shrine. Can you enlighten us further about this?

A: You are almost certainly referring to the community of Augustinian canons (The College of St Augustine) set up by Fr Patten. You will find more about it in two books: Colin Stephenson, Walsingham Way (London, 1970) and Peter Cobb, Walsingham (Bristol, 1990). The new (2006) biography of Fr Patten by Michael Yelton, now available, gives a full history of the College of St Augustine.

Q3: In which year did Archbishop Runcie attend the National Pilgrimage?

A: 1980. He preached at the Pilgrimage, and also visited the Slipper Chapel.

Q2: The names of the Guardians are inscribed on their stalls in the Shrine but can I find more about the lives of the early ones?

A: We hope in due course to supplement the current listing of Guardians' names with short biographies, and even photographs. Meanwhile the best place to find some is in Fr Peter Cobb's book, Walsingham (Bristol, 1990), where he reproduces many of their obituaries from the Mirror and Review. More details of those who were prominent in public life can be found in past editions of public reference books, and the priests' careers will be in Crockford's.

Q1: When was the first Scottish pilgrimage?

A: from Our Lady's Mirror, Summer 1936 number:
"This season will ever be marked in the annals as the year when the first organised Scottish pilgrimage came to Walsingham since the destruction of the original Holy House. These adventurers, led by Father Joblin of St Michael's, Edinburgh, heard Mass and were blessed at 6 o'clock on Saturday, August 22nd, and after a hurried breakfast boarded the train for their long journey to East Anglia. Other members of the pilgrimage came by road. Arrived before the Sanctuary the weary travellers led by a blue-eyed laddie carrying a votive banner, made their first visit. The whole pilgrimage was a most happy event, and already plans are being set on foot for a second Scottish Visit in 1937." One of the post-war publicity picture booklets has a picture of the Shrine in which the Scottish banner can be seen in a corner. A fuller account of it, from The Scottish Guardian, is on the Parish Pilgrimages page.