Norfolk, UK
As Easter Week dawned, groups of people across the UK began long walks carrying a heavy wooden cross to Walsingham, Norfolk as part of the annual ‘Pilgrim Cross’ pilgrimage.
The cross is carried across a ford at Castle Acre in Norfolk during a previous pilgrimage. PICTURE: Courtesy of Pilgrim Cross.
“Carrying the cross isn’t just symbolic – we are following Jesus in his walk to Golgotha,” said Laura Mitcham, of Pilgrim Cross, the organisation that oversees the pilgrimage.
“We carry a smaller cross between three people. It is carried for a few minutes, then passed back to those behind. The community aspect of carrying the cross is important. It helps us become attuned to each other’s needs and prompts us to ask for help when we need it. Combine that with communal living and a shared, intense experience of praying, singing and talking together – it all adds up to a unique experience of building a tight-knit loving community in a short space of time, and that starts with the cross.”
The scene has become an iconic part Easter Week ever since 1948 when Wilfred Maundecote-Carter organised the first ‘Cross Carrying Pilgrimage of Penance and Prayer’. During that first pilgrimage, 30 male Catholic students walked from London to Walsingham during Holy Week. This ‘Student Cross’ pilgrimage was so popular that it was repeated, with similar groups being set up elsewhere and linking up at Walsingham. Over the years, the movement has grown to include families, all ages and genders, those of all faiths and none. To reflect this transformation, the name changed in July, 2021, to ‘Pilgrim Cross’.
Pilgrims to Walsingham at Bites Bait Lock in Milton, near Cambridge, during a previous pilgrimage. PICTURE: Courtesy of Pilgrim Cross.
The pilgrimage is carefully organised into 12 groups (known as legs). Starting dates vary slightly according to location – the longer ones walking around 130 kilometres begin at the start of Holy Week, while the shortest route from Wells to Walsingham on the final day, is mainly undertaken by families, young children and people with limited mobility. Whatever the distance, the route is always primarily across country, often using traditional walking paths such as the Walsingham Way – a traditional route used by pilgrims across the centuries. This year 280 pilgrims are taking part including many newcomers. It also marks a resumption of normality albeit with extra precautions to ensure COVID-19 safety.
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Walsingham, a quiet village in the middle of Norfolk, is perhaps an unlikely location for a pilgrimage venue. Its origins date back to 1061, when Richeldis de Faverches, a local Saxon noblewoman, had a vision of the Virgin Mary, and her home in Nazareth when the angel Gabriel appeared. Richeldis was told to build an exact copy in Walsingham.
This became one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in the country and was even visited by royalty such as Henry VIII. Walsingham was regarded as one of the great medieval pilgrimage sites ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostella. It re-emerged as a pilgrimage centre in the late nineteenth century and there are now two shrines, one Roman Catholic, one Anglican, attracting pilgrim groups all year round.
Pilgrims from a previous pilgrimage arrive at Walsingham. PICTURE: Courtesy of Pilgrim Cross.
Just like pilgrims over the centuries, today’s modern day pilgrims have had challenges to face, regarding it as an experience that has impacted on their own faith.
Tammy Hervey, from St Francis Church in Sheffield, has taken part in several Pilgrim Cross pilgrimages.
“Walsingham is the end of the route, a place of gathering, where we celebrate Easter together,” she said. “English people are diffident when it comes to talking about their faith. One way to overcome that diffidence is to demonstrate your faith by joining a group on pilgrimage. Doing something is easier than expressing thoughts. We meet so many people, people giving us hospitality, people along the way, people in the groups. It shows us Christianity in all its glorious diversity.”
