Lady Richeldis de Faverches was an
Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and widow, traditionally credited with establishing the original shrine to the Virgin Mary in Walsingham. 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.
Erasmus visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham around 1512, by which time it was reputed to have been built by angels in the late eleventh century as a replica of the Virgin Mary's house in Nazareth. In the 1526 edition of his
Colloquies, Erasmus examined the practices and motivations of pilgrims, particularly in the dialogue
Peregrinatio, where he sought to rationalise religious devotion by contrasting external rituals with inner faith, mentioning Walsingham among the sites discussed. Although the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1538, and the statue was reportedly burned—though sources differ on the exact location, with some accounts pointing to
Thomas Cromwell's courtyard in
Chelsea, London and others to
Smithfield, which was a known site for public burnings—some historians have suggested that the statue may have survived. The Langham Madonna, housed in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, has been proposed as the original Walsingham statue, possibly rescued or sold rather than destroyed. 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 medieval seal of Walsingham Priory. In 1922 the statue was set up in the
Parish Church of St Mary In 1938 that church was enlarged to form the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. The enlarged church was blessed on Whit Monday, and thereafter a pilgrimage has taken place each year, moving from the Whit Monday bank holiday to the Spring bank holiday in 1971. 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. Father Patten combined the posts of Vicar of Walsingham and priest administrator of the Anglican shrine until he died in 1958, whereupon the Revd John Colin Stephenson became administrator of the shrine, but declined to take on the role of vicar.
Enid Chadwick contributed to the artwork in the shrine. s processing with an image of the Virgin Mary during the
national pilgrimage to Walsingham within the grounds of the ruined abbey, May 2003 Since 1959 the Whit Monday pilgrimage has been known as
the National Pilgrimage. The shrine church was substantially extended in the 1960s. ==Present day==