Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage Tour – 10 Days

Great Britain is home to a splendid collection of religious buildings, but none are more impressive than the cathedrals. Cathedrals are one of the largest draws for visitors.

The Anglican Heritage Pilgrimage Tour was created to connect people and to foster understanding of a shared past and present-day society. While some might visit religious heritage sites because of their religious beliefs or their search for spiritual fulfilment, others are interested in the cultural and historical significance. 

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage has always been an important part of Christian faith. The desire of Christians to grow in their relationship with God is often described as a journey and going on pilgrimage is a way of letting the outward journey of our bodies enrich and enable the inner journey of our hearts and minds.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. The origins of Canterbury Cathedral go back to 597AD when Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary.

Canterbury Cathedral is the destination for those who travel along the pilgrim paths from Winchester and Rochester.

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral is one of Europe’s longest churches, reflecting the city’s status intermittently from the 9th to the 17th centuries as a seat of English government. The transepts are unembellished early Norman (1079), raw architecture of brute power, whereas the mighty nave was dressed 300 years later in suave Perpendicular garb. The profusion of chantry chapels constitutes an enchanting collection of Gothic micro-architecture. Wall paintings, floor tiles, the finest 12th-century Bible.

Rochester Cathedral

Second only to Canterbury in age (the city was established in 604) for all its early history, the cathedral as we see it is mostly 12th century. The west door is a notable example of Romanesque sculpture. Rochester became an important pilgrimage centre in the 13th century when William of Perth, a Scot on his way to the Holy Land, was murdered there, and miracles were reported at his tomb.

Guildford Cathedral

Guildford Cathedral is a beautiful, inspiring and contemporary place of stillness, prayer, pilgrimage and daily choral worship. The tranquility of this amazing space is breathtaking and peaceful all at once.

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln. Also largely by-passed by modern urban development, Lincoln’s hilltop site above the broad Witam valley renders this enormous cathedral even more imposing. Largely rebuilt from 1192, it has always been revered as one of the finest of Gothic cathedrals, its fascinations enhanced by myriad minor inconsistencies and variations which reveal the struggle for solutions at the frontiers of artistic fashion and technological capability. The steep streets of the ancient town are a delight.

York Minster

One of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals – a masterpiece in stained glass and stone and a place of inspiration and wonder. Towering over the city, the former priory (minsters are actually former monasteries) can be seen from miles away. The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, more commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, and is one of the largest cathedrals in Northern Europe.

Ruins of Old Sarum and Stonehenge

The tour takes you to Old Sarum. It is a huge earthwork raised in about 500BC by Iron Age settlers and later occupied by Romans, Saxons and Normans. They built a castle and a royal palace, and by the mid-12th century it was a busy town with a fine new cathedral.

Lack of water and squabbles between church and military lead to the building of a new settlement by the river, now known as Salisbury. Old Sarum was abandoned and fell into ruin.

Stonehenge is a powerful reminder of the once-great peoples of the late Stone and Bronze Ages. Erected between 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC, a number of the stones were carried hundreds of miles over land and sea, while antlers and bones were used to dig the pits that hold the stones.

Modern techniques in archaeology, and the series of recent digs, have helped to shape new theories about the stones, but their ultimate purpose remains a fascinating and enduring mystery.