Canterbury Cathedral - Pilgrimage site

Canterbury was, in the mediaeval era, the most visited site of Pilgrimage in England and so there are a few interesting sites to see there for anyone interested in Pilgrimage.

The Cathedral

This tunnel was constructed in the mid 15th century for Pilgrims going to see where Becket had been matryed - it meant that Pilgrims were kept separate from the Priory monks

Becket wasn't killed in front of the main alter as I had thought but in a Chapel off to one side

The steps used by Pilgrims to go to Becket's shrine

The Trinity Chapel was completed in 1184 were created by William the Englishman to be arresting place for Saint Thomas a Becket - the candle burns where the shrine stood (directly above his original resting place in the crypt) from 1220-1538 when it was destroyed by order of King Henry VIII (Henry summoned the dead Saint to court to face charges of treason but Becket, obviously, did not come and so was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his shrine were confiscated and carried away in two coffers and twenty-six carts). The coffin was said to be a wooden chest laid over in gold and this held an iron-bound box holding Becket's remains - this was concealed by a wooden cover, which was raised by ropes when a crowd of pilgrims had gathered. The money raised from Pilgrims visiting Becket's shrine (which was held to be a place of healing) paid for the Cathedral's rebuilding.

Outside the Cathedral is the zero marker for the via Francigena (which does not have a zero on it anywhere!)

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

On the Camino

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