Celebrate the Year of the Pilgrimage
ONE of the most fascinating books I have read for some time – Britain’s Pilgrim Places – immediately set me thinking about its objectives from a boating perspective.
Although this lavishly illustrated book deals with around 500 holy places in England and Wales, some of which are linked with walks or pilgrims’ ways, I felt that linking them by water, using the book’s vast information as a guide, could provide a useful exercise for boaters.
Those for whom time is no object could find that travelling between any of these points becomes an exciting waterborne pilgrimage.
Of course many of the sites in the book are not on navigable waterways but there are others such as the impressive cathedrals at Liverpool, York and Lincoln in the north that can be linked by water to others further south such as Worcester, Ely and London. Interestingly it does not focus simply on Christianity but covers holy places associated with other faiths and traditions.
So it was not just mighty cathedrals which attracted pilgrims. The book is a treasure trove of interesting details about other special places, from wells and healing pools to caves and tiny churches. All hold a special magic which forms a thread running through the book.
Authors Nick Mayhew Smith and Guy Hayward (co-founder of the
British Pilgrimage
Trust) are committed to renewing the special tradition of pilgrimages which ended abruptly when Henry VIII banned them in Britain.
The trust ‘exists to advance pilgrimage as a form of cultural heritage that promotes holistic well-being for the public benefit’.
Both these authors have produced a book aimed at these objectives, a book which is as beautiful and magical as the sites within its pages.
Apparently 2020 is the Year of the Pilgrimage and what better way to celebrate it than with the publication of this book, the first ever guide to the country’s spiritual treasures.
Britain’s Pilgrim Places by Nick Mayhew Smith and Guy Hayward is published by Lifestyle Press, £19.99.
ISBN: 9780954476786