A FELLOW pilgrim described it as “a walking retreat”. At the behest of the Church Times, I was on a guided “silent pilgrimage” with the British Pilgrimage Trust, walking through the Kent countryside on the Pilgrims’ Way to Canterbury Cathedral.
As my fellow pilgrim recognised, pilgrimage walking is, in many ways, a form of retreat: it gives us permission to switch off our phones, disengage from our hectic routines, and be present in the moment. Walking in silence only deepens the sense of withdrawal. When you are free from the obligation of small talk, space is created for prayer and reflection.
Once we arrived at Canterbury Cathedral, the silence — and the pilgrimage — was deemed to be over. I said my goodbyes, and headed for home. Some stayed for evensong, but the sense of separation from the everyday world had all but evaporated. We had all bought into the popular idea that pilgrimage is “all about the journey”, and that the journey finishes at the destination. And yet, as I’m fully aware as a historian, there was a time when the pilgrim’s destination was viewed as just as important, if not more so, than the journey.
The word “pilgrim” derives from the Latin word peregrinus, originally meaning “stranger”, someone living or travelling away from their homeland. For early Christian monks, peregrinatio (pilgrimage) was practised as a literal and a spiritual retreat. Far from home, they withdrew from the world to spend the rest of their lives in prayer. In the sixth century, the Scottish island of Iona gave refuge to one of these peregrini: the Irish exile St Columba.
Columba’s monastery soon became a place of temporary retreat for others. Young men who dedicated themselves to God would arrive by boat and spend months, or even years, in quiet contemplation and prayer as part of their spiritual training. They, too, were known as “pilgrims”.
Today, the Isle of Iona has revived its ancient tradition of religious retreat, opening the once exclusive practice of peregrinatio to pilgrims from different Christian backgrounds. While modern retreat centres are not new, Anglican cathedrals such as Canterbury are less likely to be thought of in retreat terms. Despite this, many are increasingly promoted not just as end-points of pilgrimages, but as places of pilgrimage in their own right.
Perhaps with this in mind, Canterbury is one of several cathedrals to have recently appointed an on-site pilgrim officer. According to the Association of English Cathedrals, Canterbury aims to restore its title as “England’s premier pilgrim centre”, in reference to the Middle Ages when St Thomas Becket’s shrine gave it Europe-wide renown.
I WAS curious to discover whether the public agreed with Canterbury’s claim to be England’s premier pilgrim centre. I began by asking the opinion of two people with more experience of contemporary pilgrimage than most: Kathryn Hurlock, the author of Holy Places: How pilgrimage changed the world (2025) (Books, 14 March), and Oliver Smith, the author of On This Holy Island: A modern pilgrimage across Britain (2024) (Books, 28 February).
Dr Hurlock agrees that, owing to its legacy as “England’s first truly international pilgrimage destination”, Canterbury does, indeed, warrant top place. Oliver Smith took a somewhat less traditional approach: he selected Glastonbury, because of its Arthurian tradition and its appeal to different spiritual seekers, including a new type of devotee drawn to the famous music festival.
Wondering what other members of the public might make of Canterbury’s bid to pilgrimage primacy, I decided to conduct a survey through social media. Selecting three Facebook groups (British Pilgrimage; UK Ancient Cathedrals, Churches, Abbeys and Priories; and British Medieval Christian Tradition), I posted the question “Which place, in your opinion, is England’s foremost pilgrimage destination, and why?” It turned out to be a fertile topic of discussion. In response, I received a total of 212 comments.
Although three respondents agreed that Canterbury Cathedral should, indeed, be considered first among England’s pilgrim centres, the rest disagreed — some rather vociferously. What was particularly striking was the strength of feeling against Canterbury. Some observed that Canterbury’s lack of a “proper” shrine (Becket’s absent shrine now represented by a single candle) disqualified it as a worthy candidate. Others thought that Canterbury was “too woke”, while a handful grumbled about the admission charge for visitors.
The most frequent complaint was that Canterbury was too touristy. A woman who explained that she was currently touring all Anglican cathedrals commented: “Canterbury was the one that disappointed me the most. It was lacking in welcome and a sense of God. To me, it was more tourist destination and less a place of pilgrimage.”
IF CANTERBURY was thought unfit to be England’s premier pilgrim destination, which places were considered more suitable, and perhaps more appealing, as places of spiritual retreat? To my surprise, there was very little consensus among the survey participants: a whopping 47 alternatives were proposed. These included Walsingham, with its Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox shrines in honour of our Lady; St Winefride’s Well, in Holywell, Flintshire (Roman Catholic); Glastonbury Tor and Little Gidding, once home of Nicholas Ferrar’s 17th-century Anglican community.
Of the others associated with historic saints and pilgrimage traditions, Durham (St Cuthbert), St Albans (St Alban), Winchester (St Swithun), and Lindisfarne (St Aidan), were the most popular. Others ranged from York Minster and Lincoln Cathedral to the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea (associated with St Cedd and the Celtic missionaries); St Wite’s shrine, in Dorset; and Bardsey Island, in Wales (“because it is the end of the North Wales Pilgrimage”). Not every site was located in England. In addition to Bardsey, Iona (Scotland) and St David’s were singled out.
Perhaps predictably, by far the most popular choice was Walsingham. Although Walsingham’s legacy as a medieval pilgrimage destination played a part (“because it’s been a place of pilgrimage for such a long time”), most people’s decision was based on the shrine’s perceived untarnished and unrivalled spirituality. It was described by one commentator as “prayerful”, and by another as “the best I know for peace, healing, and refreshment”.
For many who responded to the survey, Walsingham stood in natural juxtaposition to Canterbury. While Canterbury was presented as blighted by tourism, commercialism, and a lack of spiritual focus, Walsingham was seen as a purer and more unspoiled sacred place.
These were themes that extended to other nominated pilgrimage destinations. Iona was chosen owing to its “tranquility”, Bradwell Chapel “because of the quiet location, the stillness and calm inside” and because it had “very few visitors, unlike the cathedrals”. St Wite’s shrine was favoured because it was “sublimely peaceful”; and Iona because it was “far from the madding crowd”. The feeling of separation from the outside world was clearly important, no doubt making these choices perfect locations for a spiritual retreat.
THE survey revealed one more surprise: preferred pilgrimage destinations were not always found at the end of a long walk, but were often local places with personal meaning. A resident of Little Walsingham chose Walsingham; Gloucester was mentioned “because it is the city of my birth”; and the reason given by a proponent of Chichester was “because we have the shrine”. Many evidently felt more spiritually at home, at places close to home. Indeed, a woman who considered that “nowhere is worthy of being a premier pilgrim venue” added that her priority was to visit places “where my ancestors were baptised, married, or interred, to soak up the atmosphere, and to ‘feel’ the history.”
As our medieval ancestors knew, pilgrimage has much in common with the practice of spiritual retreat. Like pilgrimage, a retreat can be undertaken as you travel, but can just as easily be accomplished at the destination. Some pilgrim destinations seem to have more appeal than others, but my survey suggests that these are not always the most famous or most visited. On the contrary, what many pilgrims seem to seek is a quieter experience, and an opportunity to step away from noise and intrusions of modern life.
At the same time, this kind of pilgrimage retreat does not necessarily call for a long, ambitious journey to an unfamiliar place. As one regular visitor to Walsingham noted, an ideal pilgrim destination might also be “a place where one feels at home”.
Dr Anne E. Bailey is an associate member of the History Faculty in the University of Oxford, and has published research on medieval and modern pilgrimage.
