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

article about the archives in the
Easter 2008 edition of the Church Observer, pages 5-7
(the journal of the Church Union)

LATEST additions
to the site
and archives news

Site Guide ::
future developments

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.

"updating on 12 July"

Not everything has been prepared by the promised deadline, but already there are pages of fascinating reminiscences from fourteen sources illustrating life in Fr Patten's Walsingham.
There is a page of photographs of Fr Patten's funeral.
The new large medieval section has been started.
There is now a complete list of the dates of issue of Our Lady's Mirror and all the successor journals.
The bibliography now has a list of the Education Department's publications.

The remaining pages (early photographs of Fr Patten, more press cuttings, all the early Catholic League pilgrimages, the story of St Hilary's and the pages of biographies of Guardians and other well -known Walsingham personalities) will follow as soon as possible.

Some topics have been created following requests or enquiries, both of which are always welcomed.

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.  

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 17 August 2008
enquiries, comments and contributions and notifications of broken links etc
contact the archivist

© 2005-8 WCTA Ltd / IMFS throughout unless otherwise stated
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lighting up in the Holy House, 1938, drawn by Enid Chadwick