Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

Richeldis de Faverches was an English noblewoman who is credited with establishing the original shrine to Our Lady at Walsingham.

[1] As travelling abroad became more difficult during the time of the Crusades, Walsingham became a place of pilgrimage, ranking alongside Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela.

[6] Father Alfred Hope Patten SSC, appointed as the Church of England Vicar of Walsingham in 1921, ignited Anglican interest in the pre-Reformation pilgrimage.

It was his idea to create a new statue of Our Lady of Walsingham based on the image depicted on the seal of the medieval priory.

[9] During World War II, Walsingham was a restricted zone closed to visitors, but in May 1945, American Forces organised the first Mass in the priory grounds since the Reformation.

The grounds include the shrine church, gardens, several chapels, a refectory, a café, a shrine shop, a visitors' centre, the Pilgrim Hall, an orangery, the College (home to priests-associate when in residence), and a large number of different residential blocks for the accommodation of resident pilgrims.