Peterborough Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day

Peterborough Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day – 6 miles. ‍

‍

This route begins in the pretty village of Castor to the west of Peterborough in the wonderfully evocative church of St Kyneburgha. The saint in question was a Saxon lady of the 7th century whose miraculous exploits are lovingly recorded by the church today. A medieval carving in the south chapel depicts the time she was fleeing two soldiers when she dropped her basket, the contents of which miraculously grew into bushes that protected her. Fragments of her former shrine are on display, a fine place to begin a pilgrimage to Peterborough Cathedral since the saint’s holy body was translated there following a raid by Vikings in 963.

The route follows the river Nene through fields and meadows almost all the way to the cathedral itself, a short walk to the north once the river enters the outskirts of the city centre. Another highlight of this pilgrimage is found about a mile from the start, the two standing stones known as Robin Hood and Little John, something of a rarity in Cambridgeshire given the county’s lack of rockfaces from which to carve out monoliths. Continuing along the river Nene, the route passes several sites that were once used for Roman settlements, although few traces can be seen today. The final leg runs north from the river, stopping just before the cathedral to pay due respect to another fine ecclesiastical building in town, the medieval parish church of St John the Baptist.

In collaboration with the British Pilgrimage Trust, this route was created by Nick Mayhew-Smith, author of ‘The Naked Hermit‘, and Britain’s Holiest Places.