By Alice Sainsbury “The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts” – Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia Many great journeys start with everything going very wrong and my path has been no exception. Seven years ago I was at the peak of my career as an activewear designer, […]
Learn about history’s most iconic relics on Netflix’s “Mysteries of the Faith”. Relics are such an interesting portal into the role of pilgrimage in our lives. Out today on All Saints Day, November 1st, around the time of the Day of the Dead, BPT’s @drguyhayward speaks in episodes 1 and 4 about the role of […]
Winter brings shorter days and unpredictable weather – but you don’t have to put pilgrimage on pause. Here’s why BPT’s Dawn Champion thinks winter is perfect for a one-day pilgrimage. “When is pilgrimage season?” I am often asked. Chaucer would have you believe it begins in April, and for most people the end of October […]
For a short written account of what you can expect in our London Coronation Pilgrimage event on Tue 19 Sep, read the first of the Idler pilgrimage column below. The Idler is a magazine and school dedicated to fun, freedom and fulfilment. The Nov/Dec 2023 column (also pictured below) is for Avebury…
To launch the BBC2 TV series “Pilgrimage: the Road through Portugal“, BBC Radio 4 PM’s Anita Anand interviewed British Pilgrimage Trust patrons Emma Bridgewater and Fiona Reynolds, and its director, Guy Hayward. They discussed how modern pilgrimage includes atheists, is about opening your mind, and doesn’t need to be religious. Emma Bridgewater happened to be […]
In addition to making our online resources free in general, we’ve also improved the Old Way Online Guide in particular, which has been overhauled for the first time since its launch two years ago! Pilgrims will now find their Old Way journeys are easier to plan, adaptable to their pace and preferences, putting the pilgrim […]
We are a charity, and so our goal must be to make pilgrimage available for as many people as possible. Since August 2020 our Old Way Online Guide and Old Way Sanctuaries had only been available to paying subscribers. And from May this year, the same ‘paywall’ had also existed for our other Sanctuary routes […]
Here is where we will collate any publicity about the launch of the Sanctuary Network. First up, it’s the Church Times, perhaps the core publication of potential Sanctuary providers, as it is read by local rural community members and churchwardens, vicars etc, and has a readership of 90,000 per week in print and online. Let’s […]
We are excited to announce the launch of Britain’s Sanctuary Network, an AirBnB-style app functionality attached to the pilgrimage routes on our website that promotes low-cost accommodation options in churches, church halls, village halls and, in the future, barns and bothies. Currently, there are three routes in Britain served by Sanctuaries – Old Way to Canterbury; Golden […]
As you go on your contemporary pilgrimages, have a thought for your predecessors. And amongst them, the most famous of them all, Chaucer’s pilgrims! You can now see what they really looked like, because the original woodcut depictions of Chaucer’s Pilgrims published in 1483 by England’s first printer, William Caxton (whose 600th birthday is this […]
Have you watched BBC Two’s latest reality TV series “Pilgrimage: Road to the Scottish Isles”? All three episodes are currently available on iPlayer. The merry band of pilgrims includes thoughtful ‘Pagan’ Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, wise Christian instagram influencer Scarlet Moffat, kind Sikh cricketer Monty Panesar, serious Muslim comedian Shazia Mirza, loving Jewish actress Louisa Clein and […]
To mark National Walking Day 2022 (first Wed of April), our patron Emma Bridgewater has launched a mug inspired by pilgrimage. And, perhaps even more appropriately, she is currently walking the whole Old Way from Southampton to Canterbury, and is well into her 3-week journey (read more about this here). The messages on the mug […]
THE WALTER HILTON PILGRIMAGE DAY From Thurgarton Priory to Southwell Minster Saturday March 26 Join the group or start when you like Rupert Sheldrake, one of our patrons, whose roots are in Nottinghamshire, plans to go on this one-day pilgrimage, and if you live nearby, he invites you to join him. It’s about five miles. Whether you […]
Thanks Financial Times and their ‘How To Spend It’ team for announcing us as one of ‘five extraordinary walking holidays’ across the world. “Lately, the pilgrimage – those Celtic and early-Christian walking routes-as-rituals of yore, often evolved along ancient pagan pathways – has been experiencing a revival in popularity: slow journeys that take in wilderness, sacred sites, […]
Walking increases creativity, both while you’re doing it (as in the scientific study below) or in the long-term, because your brain’s creativity improves from walking over time. All the research in the article linked below makes us think of the ‘set your intention’ aspect of how we distinguish a pilgrimage from a walk, and suggests […]
BPT’s Guy Hayward speaks with Fr Graeme Rowlands – Priest, Chairman of School Governors, Guardian of the Shrine of Walsingham, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral – about his work in taking school children from different cultural backgrounds from the Kentish Town area of London on pilgrimage to St Paul’s Cathedral (Year 3), Westminster Abbey (Year […]
Khalil Martin, a muslim, reflects on the pilgrim places and practices he experienced on a BPT day pilgrimage in Winchester Let’s leave aside for a moment the question why a Muslim is participating in a pilgrimage to predominantly Christian sites in and around Winchester and focus on what aspects had meaning and relevance from a […]
Sophie Campbell includes the St Peter’s Way in a Telegraph list of 20 secret gems to tempt people eastward for a staycation, actually, a waycation in this instance.
The NHS turned 72 this month, and this year many of us are highly conscious of the importance of community healthcare. Keeping fit and well was essential for the medieval pilgrim, when lengthy journeys on foot carried much higher risks of injury or illness. Pilgrimage was often made in order to seek healing, either for […]
By Peter Stanford The ways in which we use the word pilgrimage have changed so much during my lifetime. And yet, I realise increasingly, the core of what it articulates remains the same. It began for me at the age of 17. I was the latest in a long line at my Catholic boys’ school […]
Kerry Christiani (@kerryawalker) has written a brilliant article on pilgrimages around the world with a particular focus on British pilgrimage. This must have been a lot of work so we are very grateful to her and the National Geographic Traveller. If you like the sound of the work we do and want to support us, […]
Kent Life feature on the Old Way – Jane Maltby wrote this beautiful article on the Old Way featuring the BPT’s Dawn Champion, our Old Way Project Lead. In it, you will hear about our plans for how she is making the Old Way ready for purpose. Waymarking, Sanctuary accommodation etc. It’s very exciting to […]
Thank you to Kent Life Magazine and Jane Maltby for publishing this beautiful article on the Old Way featuring the BPT’s Dawn Champion, our Old Way Project Lead. In it, you will hear about our plans for how she is making the Old Way ready for purpose. Waymarking, Sanctuary accommodation etc. It’s very exciting to […]
We’ve had several pieces of publicity over the past two months. Here’s a handy list: iNews – “Pilgrimages to plan for 2021: the long-distance hikes that will set you in the right direction” and “Steps you can take to brighten up a local walk“ Independent – “An unholy pilgrimage on the Whitby Way“ Coventry Telegraph […]
Thank you The Guardian for giving BPT’s Guy Hayward the chance to write this feature article. Various routes covered: St Magnus Way (Orkney); Whitby Way (York to Whitby); Peak District Old Stones Way; North Wales Pilgrim’s Way / Taith Pererin Gogledd Cymru and BPT’s Old Way (Southampton to Canterbury). Also mentioned: Megalithic Portal; Explore Churches […]
Thank you Alan Franks for this brilliant round-up feature of how Covid helped more people in 2020 become walkers, and even pilgrims…
Thank you FT Weekend & Pamela Goodman for this brilliant article on the BPT and pilgrimage, from various angles. “We are moving from the age of economy to the age of ecology” – Satish Kumar, of @schumachercollege & @resurgencetrust “The essence of a place is best discovered through its food” – Patrick Holden of Sustainable […]
Len Williams writes this fascinating reflection on why the ancient concept of pilgrimage works for the modern person. A rich feature combining medieval history of the Pilgrims Way to Canterbury, a global survey of other pilgrimage traditions, his own pilgrim’s experience, nature immersion, and his moment of ‘mount joy’.Article appeared in BBC News on Nov […]
Catherine Fairweather wrote this great article for the Guardian on British pilgrimage within the context of global pilgrimage traditions. It shows that walking between and to holy places is a universal impulse, not limited to any one belief or cultural system. People living in Britain can discover it in Britain in a new way, now […]
Click here for article (or here). Walk of St David and Stonehenge guided pilgrimage highlighted.
Amazon Bestseller in Books Hive Top 10 Monthly Bestseller Radio 4 Interview with co-author Nick Mayhew-Smith Livestream dialogue between co-authors Nick Mayhew-Smith and Guy Hayward Saturday Guardian Travel Financial Times Telegraph The Times The Independent Country Walking Waitrose Weekend House & Garden Town & Country Catholic Herald Gasholder (London Magazine) New European
Anglesey Pilgrimage in Saturday Telegraph Travel’s Seaside Feature – June 27th 2020. Digital version here.
This week, the BPT and the Association of English Cathedrals (AEC) got together again, a collaboration forged for 2020 Year of Cathedrals Year of Pilgrimage, and launched new *covid-compliant circular* day pilgrim routes exploring over 27 cathedral cities and the stories that made them. Have a read of the AEC’s article, and visit our webpage showing you […]
For full Telegraph Travel article, click here. And to explore the Glastonbury Water Way, click here.
Last year, the BPT collaborated with English Heritage to create 10 new pilgrimage routes that connected their heritage sites of ruined churches, chapels and prehistoric ritual sites. They collected all of these here on their website. The pilgrim routes were so popular with their members that they have repeated it this year too, printing the […]
Robbie Hodges reports in the Suitcase Magazine on the growing appeal of pilgrimages and how they can be personalised for many different purposes. Robbie interviews Guy Hayward, whom he describes as a ‘pilgrim liberal’! The main radical examples Robbie introduces are LGBTQ+ pilgrimage destinations in Brompton (Emmeline Pankhurst Grave), Rievaulx (gay icon St Aelred), Bournemouth […]
Holly Tuppen has written this wonderful piece on the Imbolc/Candlemas Avebury pilgrimage on 3rd February, 2020, in the Guardian published on 19 February. The pilgrimage was co-led by Guy Hayward, Charlotte Pulver and Chris Park.
Comprehensive and funny article by William Cash for Times 2 on Monday 13th January 2020, launching the cathedral pilgrimages project, mentioning the English Heritage project, and also ChoralEvensong.org. PDF embedded below, hover you cursor over the image and click the arrows to move the pages.
Guy spoke to Martha Kearney on BBC R4’s Today Programme on 6th January, 2020, on the day of Epiphany (marking the end of the Three Kings’ year-long pilgrimage to the manger!). This launches the 2020 Cathedral Pilgrimages Project with the Association of English Cathedrals.
BPT’s Guy has teamed up with Britain’s Holiest Places author Nick Mayhew-Smith to create accessible 1-day pilgrimages to mark the Year of Cathedrals and Pilgrimage in 2020, in collaboration with the Association of English Cathedrals.
Come next Friday 1 Nov on All Saints Day on the London Martyr’s Way guided pilgrimage from Smithfield to Tyburn Convent (Part 2 of 2). Book via ‘Our Events’ page. This video is Part 1, I collaborated with Kate Davey and @jason.goodw1n and there now exists this route! A merry band of pilgrims we had. […]
Guy Hayward speaks on BBC Radio Leicester about multi-faith pilgrimage and the questions to ask yourself when you choose which pilgrimage route to walk.
Guardian features the 2019 Turtle Dove pilgrimage, with Will Parsons of the BPT and Sam Lee of Nest Collective, in collaboration with Isabella Tree of Knepp Castle Estate. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/03/silencing-natural-world-can-turtle-dove-be-saved
The Old Way makes the Telegraph’s 20 top walks ‘with added meaning’. BPT co-founder William Parsons tells the Telegraph all about it in this article listing Britain’s top 20 pilgrimage walks, ones with spiritual, heritage and literary ‘added meaning’… Also listed are two routes developed by BPT’s Guy Hayward for the English Heritage project in […]
James Tapper writes on a new pilgrimage route to honour the recently canonised Cardinal Newman’s path from Oxford to Birmingham, which also describes the BPT and why pilgrimages are popular now. Further details of this route will be uploaded to the website as they become available. Ian Skelly also reported this article on BBC Radio […]
BPT’s Dr Guy Hayward speaking with Paul Coia and Debbie McGee on an upcoming guided pilgrimage he is leading for Reading Fringe Festival.
“Join Guy Hayward and Jason Goodwin from the British Pilgrimage Trust to walk a section of the South Dorset Old Stones Way – one of 10 historic trails taking in English Heritage sites en-route.” See the wider project this is part of here.
Melanie McDonagh writes on the BPT in the role of the renaissance of interest of pilgrimage in Britain, including the Old Way to Canterbury, and the work of English Heritage and the Church of England.
John-Paul Flintoff writes of the BPT and its patron Rupert Sheldrake on the power of walking and pilgrimages to heal.
Hugh Thomson writes on the Old Way Pilgrimage’s great potential as a route to help usher in a new era of British pilgrimage, in this article in the Spectator.
Jason Goodwin tells of the plight of Dragomen, those who guide groups. Our London pilgrimage is used as an example. Read the article here.
Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discuss pilgrimage, and in particular their experience of the BPT’s guided London Pilgrimage on 3rd Feb 2019, in a 20-min podcast. Listen here.
Dr Sally Welch writes about the resurgence of interest in pilgrimage in the Church Times Travel Supplement, which lists five pilgrimage routes around Britain to try. The article links to BPT – do check out our routes directory to find more routes.
Jason Goodwin wrote about a new 1-day pilgrimage route from Littlebredy to Abbotsbury, in the Boxing Day edition of Country Life, featuring certain walks around Britain. View the South Dorset Old Stones Way here. It says ‘Great Stones Way’ but we’re calling it ‘Old Stones Way’.
The British Pilgrimage Trust has had a productive and exciting year. We have been working hard to realise the Trust’s vision, creating a set of effective and powerful tools for supporting the practice of pilgrimage across Britain. Guided pilgrimages– In 2017, the Trust held 11 pilgrimages, giving over 400 people access to the practice.– In […]
BPT’s Guy Hayward spoke with Tonderai Munyevu (Black Men Walking) during a 1-day BPT guided pilgrimage on the South Downs, in a programme that was broadcast on 26th June 2018. Listen to whole programme here.
Emma Pritchard wrote this wonderful article in the Winter Issue of Country Living magazine. Andrew Montgomery took the photos, and that shoot was unlike any other, pouncing on the snow windows. Pilgrimage in the winter is very special. (Photo © Will Parsons)
Radio 4 recently ran a ‘One-to-One’ show which featured Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves), with William Parsons guiding her on a very short pilgrimage on the Old Way. Listen in here:
A 1-day pilgrimage in Winchester, with the foreign correspondent of Swiss National Newspaper “Die Neue Zurcher Zeitung”, Markus Haefliger: https://www.nzz.ch/international/glaeubige-und-atheisten-auf-alten-pilgerwegen-ld.1367920
At the end of May, a farm pilgrimage was made journeying three miles from the source of the River Dickler with over 100 sustainable farmers, finishing at Fir Farm to arrive for the opening session of the Future of UK Farming Conference, led by Michael Gove, DEFRA Minister, and Minette Batters, President of the National Farmers’ […]
“I spent two years walking to every cathedral in England – and made some incredible discoveries” Over the course of two years, the Earl of Selborne undertook to walk to every cathedral in England, and found himself inspired by stunning architecture, amazing music, beautiful countryside – and the occasional canalside pub. Read his wonderful article here.
Guy from the British Pilgrimage Trust meets Tony Robinson on Channel 4, and sings to him the oldest English song with words and music written down together in c. 1160 – ‘Sainte Marie’ by Saint Godric of Finchale – before taking him to the oldest and largest stone cross on Dartmoor – Nun’s Cross – […]
We as the BPT are wanting to promote pilgrimage in Britain at large. We have recently set up a Great Routes directory and we now have the capability to launch an Events Directory. If you know of a pilgrimage event happening near you, please let us know by emailing events@britishpilgrimage.org. Thank you. Or, if you are feeling […]
Will speaks to Radio 4 at the Green Pilgrimage Conference in Canterbury Cathedral. Pilgrimage is more popular than ever, with hundreds of thousands of people travelling great distances to visit holy places on foot; an experience that is inextricably connected to the natural world. There is an increasing amount of interest in how to make […]
To self-guide a weekend micro-pilgrimage to the song Jerusalem, we recommend Alastair Sawdays’ website (slow travel and special places specialists), who detail a section of our route from Dunsfold to Haslemere, staying in the amazing Roundhurst Barns – an unforgettable night of wooded luxury at the foot of the Black Downs, where in the morning […]
THE SONG ITSELF DAY 0 – Travelling to London (with interviews) DAY 1 (The Start) – Primrose Hill at Sunrise DAY 1 (Part II) – Bunhill Fields to St. Paul’s Cathedral DAY 1 (Part III) – Fleet Street to Piccadilly DAY 2 – Piccadilly to Battersea DAY 3 – Wimbledon to Hampton Court DAY 4 […]
To make our pilgrimage to Jerusalem the song, we had a plan. We tried to follow it. But as ever on pilgrimage, the whim of journey was key. If solid local knowledge presented itself in the form of an old dear’s wise whispers, or if a quest emerged from the forest, or if the wind […]
THE SONG ITSELF DAY 0 – Travelling to London (with interviews) DAY 1 (The Start) – Primrose Hill at Sunrise DAY 1 (Part II) – Bunhill Fields to St. Paul’s Cathedral DAY 1 (Part III) – Fleet Street to Piccadilly DAY 2 – Piccadilly to Battersea DAY 3 – Wimbledon to Hampton Court DAY 4 […]