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As you might have guessed, there are two Walsinghams: Little Walsingham and Great Walsingham. Little Walsingham is the bigger and better-known of the two. From the 11th to 16th centuries the village was one of the most famous pilgrimage centres in Europe, but went into decline with Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. Today, however, its fame has been restored, thanks to a religious and pilgrimage revival which began in the 19th century, and thousands of pilgrims and tourists are drawn from all over the world.

The Walsingham story begins in 1061 when Richeldis de Faverches, pious Lady of the Manor, had a vision of the Virgin Mary who showed her the house in Nazareth where the child Jesus was brought up. Acting on the Virgin’s command, Richeldis built a replica of the house at Walsingham.

Miracles began to be associated with the simple little building and it wasn’t long before pilgrims were flocking to ‘England’s Nazareth’, as Walsingham became known.. In the mid-12th century an Augustinian priory was built near the Holy House. Hostels were erected to cater for the ever-increasing numbers, and a new village was developed on a ‘grid’ pattern, the streets lined with inns and shops. Many of these medieval buildings survive today, though some are hidden behind Georgian facades.

The Augustinian priory, which soon became the premier shrine to the Virgin in England, developed into a magnificent set of buildings as a result of alterations in the 13th and 14th centuries. The priory church was 244 feet long with both central and western towers. The Walsingham shrine rivalled Canterbury and every monarch from Richard I to Henry VIII visited it.

Walsingham Priory was dissolved in August 1538 and the statue of the Virgin Mary with Christ on her lap which had stood in the Holy House was taken to London and burnt. Two years later the site was sold.

Section Index
North Norfolk Intro
Cromer
Walsingham
Wells-next-the-Sea
Return of the Albatros

A modern replica of the Holy House of Nazareth stands in the Anglican Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham, built in 1931 and set in tranquil gardens. The shrine and gardens are open daily to visitors.

A mile south of Walsingham, at the village of Houghton St Giles, the 14th century Slipper Chapel is the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady. This was the place where medieval pilgrims removed their shoes to complete the last mile of their pilgrimage barefoot.

Other ecclesiastic attractions in Walsingham are the Methodist Chapel, built in 1794 and the oldest still in use in East Anglia, and the Russian Orthodox Chapel of St Seraphim, established in 1967 in the former railway station.

A museum of local history is housed in the Shirehall, built in the 16th century and converted into a courthouse in the 1770s. The Tourist Information Centre is also to be found there.

The best introduction to Walsingham is to join one of Mrs Scilla Landale’s guided tours; tel: 01328 820250. These leave from the TIC at 11.00 on Wednesdays and Thursdays from Easter to the end of September and at 14.00 on Saturdays in June, July and August. Group tours can be arranged throughout the year.

Well served by pubs, shops, restaurants, cafes and B&Bs, Little Walsingham has a split personality. From Easter to the end of September its streets are often thronged with tourists, members of the clergy and lay pilgrims. At other times it seems almost deserted – except, of course, at Christmas.