Britain S Pilgrim Places

Britain’s Pilgrim Places captures the spirit of 2,000 years of history, heritage and wonder. It is the complete guide to every spiritual treasure, including 500 enchanting holy places throughout England, Wales and Scotland and covers all major pilgrimage routes.

Britain's vast spiritual heritage will enchant anyone with a sense of the sacred. Celtic healing pools, ancient shrines, exotic saints, spectacular artworks, soaring cathedrals, mystical islands and humble rustic churches bring 2,000 years of belief vividly to life.

Here is a unique guide book that takes us on a journey across the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, and helps us to discover and explore a multitude of sacred sites: ancient stone circles and tombs, Christian and pre-Christian shrines, medieval synagogues, small country churches and much more.

This book leads the modern traveller along seven medieval pilgrim routes of Britain (those with historic origins, rather than modern constructs), taking in world-famous sites such as Canterbury and Lindisfarne in addition to out-of-the-way locations along paths not so widely travelled. Each route guides pilgrims on a journey of discovery. Illustrated throughout with photographs and colour maps, and written by a renowned expert on pilgrimage, Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles provides clear maps and informative commentary on the history of the most significant landscapes, shrines, art and architecture. Although it offers some fresh walking ideas, primary consideration is given to understanding the history, significance and practices surrounding the pilgrim routes and sites of Britain, helping you to follow in the footsteps of our forebears and gain invaluable insights into their medieval world. It will be of great interest to walkers and historians alike. Illustrated with 80 colour photos and 12 maps.

This guidebook details the Pilgrims' Way, an historic pilgrimage route to Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, home of the shrine of the martyred archbishop, St Thomas Becket. The route is described both from Winchester in Hampshire (138 miles) and London's Southwark Cathedral (90¼ miles), with an optional spur to Rochester Cathedral. With relatively easy walking on ancient byways, the route from Winchester is presented in 15 stages of 5-14 miles: it can be comfortably completed in under a fortnight. It follows a major chalk ridge through scenic countryside, taking in characterful towns and villages and historic churches. The route from Southwark is described in 10 stages and includes a visit to the ruined Lesnes Abbey. Detailed route description is accompanied by 1:50,000 OS mapping, advice on making the most of a trip and information on the historical background to the pilgrimage, key historical figures and local points of interest. Accommodation listings and details of facilities and transport links can be found in the appendices. Pilgrimages to Becket's shrine began within a few years of the his death in 1170, although Canterbury was a popular destination even before this time due to the nearby shrine of St Augustine. The route has featured in literature, drama and film, and forms the setting for Geoffrey Chaucer's famous Middle English work, The Canterbury Tales.

Sacred Britain is a unique guidebook to the sacred sites of England, Scotland and Wales. It takes you on a journey across the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, and helps you to discover and explore our rich and mysterious heritage of ancient stone circles and tombs, Christian and pre-Christian shrines, medieval synagogues, special churches, great cathedrals, sacred cities, holy wells and rivers, ancient yew trees and symbolic plants. Book jacket.

An unsurpassable, visual tour of the greatest pilgrimage sites of Europe, from North to South; East to West. Pilgrimage in Europe is currently thriving on a scale that simply could not have been envisaged just a few decades ago. Not only are greater numbers of people now emulating the medieval pilgrims who made their way on foot across Europe to the shrines of martyred apostles in Rome (SS Peter and Paul), Santiago de Compostela (St James) and Trondheim (St Olav), but international religious tourism is also thriving and millions each year are now travelling by air, rail and road to Europe’s major pilgrimage churches and famous sites of Marian Apparition such as Lourdes (France) and Fatima (Portugal). This book covers those key pilgrimage sites as well as many lesser known ones such as the Marian Sanctuary of La Salette in the French Alps, the cave sanctuary of Covadonga in Northern Spain, the majestic twenty-first-century basilica of Our Lady of Licheń in Poland and the Chapel of Grace in Altötting, Bavaria. It comprises an atmospheric and colourful portrayal of the pilgrimage churches and cathedrals adorned with sculpture, art and iconography associated not only with the Virgin Mary but also the national saints and Early Christian martyrs revered by both Catholic and Anglican faiths alike. En route the reader will see some of the world’s most impressive examples of medieval art and architecture set amidst historic townscapes or spectacular landscapes. This volume will serve as both an enticement to take to the road, a treasured aide memoire for those who have visited at least some of these iconic places and hopefully, a source of comfort and inspiration for those unable to travel abroad from wherever they live in the world.

Ten great historic pilgrim routes of Western Europe, inspiration for today's long distance walker. Pilgrimage in Europe is thriving on a massive scale. This century the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela alone has seen 40 times the number of pilgrim visits. Author Derry Brabbs’ previous book, Roads to Santiago, focused exclusively on the 'camino' through France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela; Pilgrimage revisits this classic route, and nine other inspirational journeys across Europe. Whether you’re truly making a pilgrimage, exploring the world, or simply hiking, Pilgrimage will lead you along deeply historical routes like the 'Jakobsweg' in Germany, between Cologne and Trier. You’ll find great walks in Britain and France, like St. Cuthbert's Way which winds around the Scottish Borders to the holy island of Lindisfarne, and the World Heritage Site of Mont-St-Michel built on the tiny island off the coast of Normandy. The most notable addition to the rejuvenated era of pilgrimage is the Via Francigena, now a very well established path through Switzerland and Italy. The Italian section begins on the bleak summit of the Great St Bernard Pass where a hospice still caters to the needs of passing pilgrims before heading down to Rome through some of Italy’s most beguiling countryside interspersed with medieval hilltop towns and villages. Astounding photographs combine with an absorbing text that describes the history and key features of each route, as well as brief details of the distances and the number of days it takes to walk, and a list of websites to help plan your journey.