HIGHLIGHT: A medieval pilgrim cross, hidden in a forest
This is a land of ghosts.
The ghosts of pilgrims past, and of holy pointers that showed them the way to Walsingham.
Once, a great stone cross on a distant hill guided medieval pilgrims onward from the Norfolk village of Weeting.
But that was many centuries ago. What will I find today?
The historic references are not encouraging.
In an 18th century account I read: ‘in the fields of Weeting north of the town is a Green Way called Walsingham Way, used (as ‘tis said) by pilgrims on their way to the Lady of Walsingham… here was formerly a stone cross now broke into two pieces commonly called the Stump Cross.’
Today, what was broad, open heath is flooded with trees, their grey trunks each looking very like a stone shaft, making finding the actual Weeting Stump Cross not unlike solving a Where’s Wally puzzle.
But, in one encouraging sign, my Ordnance Survey map still marks the path I follow here as ‘Pilgrims’ Walk’, a very rare modern reference to the ancient route to Walsingham.
It is wonderful to make Pilgrims’ Walk part of the newly revived London to Walsingham Camino, a route which takes modern pilgrims 180 miles, on footpaths and quiet lanes, through the glorious east of England: from the Capital to England’s greatest shrine.
As I walk I am conscious of the spirits of pilgrims past, who walked this way for centuries before me. Until, that is, Henry VIII banned pilgrimage and the veneration of saints approaching 500 years ago.
But Pilgrims’ Walk does not take me directly to the cross, which is some way west, hidden in the trees.
I have to thread my way off the path and through dense forest to reach the spot.
I am not expecting much. Just a couple of lengths of broken stone lying on the ground.
So I am pleasantly surprised to find a rough-hewn, lichen-cloaked shaft standing a good seven feet tall, firmly anchored in a square plinth.
The shaft originally stood 12ft and was topped with a cross. It dates from the 1300s, and was snapped off either at the Reformation, in the 1530s, or in 1643 during the Parliamentary period.
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