Marian vision of Our Lady of Walsingham at the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady in
Houghton St Giles (Slipper Chapel), built in 1340 as the last chapel on the pilgrim route to the
priory in Walsingham According to the tradition, Lady
Richeldis experienced a series of Marian visions in which the Blessed Virgin Mary showed her the house in Nazareth where the
Holy Family once lived and the
Annunciation occurred. She was commissioned to build a replica of this house in her village, Walsingham, England. This structure, known as the 'Holy House,' later became a revered shrine and a significant pilgrimage site in medieval England. The original Holy House contained a wooden image of Our Lady, further emphasising its role as a centre of Marian devotion.
Post-Reformation revival The late 19th-century wooden image of Our Lady of Walsingham, housed at the Catholic
Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, was crafted in
Oberammergau, Germany, as a replica of the image in
Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Blessed by Pope Leo XIII in 1897, it was originally enshrined in
Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in King's Lynn, which functioned as the national shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham until 1934. Following the shrine's re-establishment in Walsingham, the image was relocated to the 14th-century Slipper Chapel, which was later elevated to the status of a Catholic Basilica by
Pope Francis in 2015, where it remains a focal point of devotion. Similarly, the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, founded as part of the revival of pilgrimage devotion led by Father
Alfred Hope Patten in the 1920s, houses a wooden image of Our Lady, carved in 1922 and based on the seal of the medieval priory. The shrine includes a reconstructed Holy House, reflecting the dimensions of the original structure built by Lady Richeldis in 1061.
Holy House and pilgrimages The historian J. C. Dickinson (1959) asserts that the former Anglo-Saxon chapel at Walsingham was established in 1053, during the reign of
Edward the Confessor, confirming that it predates both the shrine and the later Augustinian priory. While this chapel served as an early Christian worship site, the shrine—known as the Holy House—has traditionally been believed to have been established in 1061, as recorded in the
Pynson Ballad. However, Dickinson's research disputes this claim, arguing that the shrine was founded later, likely between 1130 and 1153, based on historical records rather than the traditional account of Lady Richeldis' legendary visions. In 1169, Geoffrey de Favraches granted 'to God and St Mary and to Edwy, his clerk, the chapel of Our Lady,' originally founded by his mother. The grant carried the intention that Edwy would establish a priory at the site, which was formally transferred to the Augustinian Canons of Walsingham through confirmations by Robert de Brucurt and
Roger, Earl of Clare. Over time, the shrine became the focal point of pilgrimage, and when the Augustinian priory was founded, it eventually incorporated both the Anglo-Saxon chapel and the shrine, making Walsingham a major centre of Marian devotion. However, historian Bill Flint (2015) disputes Dickinson's timeline for the shrine's foundation, arguing that the 1161 Norfolk Roll refers specifically to the foundation of the Augustinian priory, rather than the shrine itself. Flint supports the traditional 1061 date recorded in the
Pynson Ballad, asserting that Walsingham's religious significance was already established by then. He controversially claims that Queen
Edith the Fair, Lady of the Manor, rather than Lady Richeldis, was the likely Walsingham visionary, suggesting that the shrine's origins are rooted in Anglo-Saxon royal heritage. By the time of its destruction in 1538 during the reign of Henry VIII, the shrine had become one of the greatest religious centres in England and Europe, alongside
Glastonbury and
Canterbury. During medieval times, it was a prominent pilgrimage site, especially as wars and political upheaval made travel to
Rome and
Santiago de Compostela increasingly difficult and time-consuming. Royal patronage helped the shrine to grow in wealth and popularity. It received regal visits from kings
Henry III,
Edward I,
Edward II,
Henry IV,
Edward IV,
Henry VII,
Henry VIII and also
Catherine of Aragon. Visiting in 1513,
Desiderius Erasmus wrote: The prior was evidently compliant, but not all of the community felt likewise. In 1537, two lay choristers organised "the most serious plot hatched anywhere south of the Trent", intended to resist what the monks feared, rightly as it turned out, would happen to their foundation. Eleven men were executed as a result. The sub-prior, Nicholas Milcham, was charged with conspiring to rebel against the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and on flimsy evidence was convicted of high treason and hanged outside the priory walls. Two chroniclers, Hall and Speed, suggested that the actual burning did not take place until September. Although Hussey claimed to have witnessed the removal of the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham to London, there is no extant eyewitness account of its destruction. Claims that the image was destroyed do not agree on the place or date of destruction. There have been persistent suggestions that the image may in fact have been rescued and hidden by parties loyal to the tradition of veneration. On 23 December 1925, a medieval madonna and child statue, named the Langham Madonna, was purchased by the
Victoria and Albert Museum. As early as 1931, the leading
Anglo-Papalist priest
Henry Joy Fynes-Clinton suggested that the Langham Madonna could be the original image from Walsingham. It is incomplete, but the remaining parts bear a striking resemblance to the image's depiction on the medieval Walsingham Priory seal. In 2019, the English art historians Michael Rear and Francis Young, having studied the provenance, form, and damage to the Langham Madonna, published their conclusions (originally through the
Catholic Herald) that it is actually the original statue of Our Lady of Walsingham. ==Modern revival==