A Pilgrim’s Progress

Willesden may not seem the most likely place to make a pilgrimage, but early this freezing February morning I found myself escaping the cold and entering the church of St Mary’s, Willesden, on Neasden Lane.  Fr. Andrew Hammond, the Vicar of St. Mary’s kindly let me in to the church to have a look, and explained the some of it’s fascinating history which dates back to the 10^th Century. Later in the medieval period, between c.1475 and 1538 AD,  many people would have traveled from near and far to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Willesden. Although changed somewhat since then, the shrine remains a popular place of Marian devotion, both for the community that worship there, and for those that might make longer journeys to visit the shrine.

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Pilgrimage would have been a familiar process for locals living in what would become north-west London in the middle ages, but  is also a  modern activity for many religious groups including  Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions. A pilgrimage can broadly be defined as a visit to a shrine or holy place, quite often involving a (sometimes long) journey.  Many people traveled to sites in the UK during the middle ages, and also sometimes to more far flung places including Jerusalem, and Santiago de Compostella – a destination still extremely popular with those of faith and of none and features in the film ‘The Way’ (well worth a watch!)

One of the most famous pilgrimages in literary history is made by Geoffrey Chaucer’s merry band of pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. Many pilgrims would have started their pilgrimage at The Tabard, an inn founded in the 14^th century, and near the site of The George Inn, the only galleried coaching inn left in London, and well worth a visit – pilgrim or otherwise!

Canterbury was a hugely popular site of pilgrimage in the medieval period and became famous after the unfortunate demise of St Thomas Becket in the Cathedral in 1170 AD, after Henry III supposedly uttered the phrase “will no one rid me of this turbulent Priest”.  In terms of Marian shrines (those dedicated to the Mary mother of Jesus), Walsingham in Norfolk was (and still is) a famous centre of prayer, and many such shrines can be found all around the globe (just look at the list here).

But what does any of this have to do with Brent Museum and Archives? In the section of the new museum covering Brent’s early history, a couple of curious items associated with pilgrimage in the borough will go on display. Pilgrim badges would have been bought by visitors to holy sites to indicate that the person had made pilgrimage there. We are thrilled to have these badges from the medieval shrine of Our Lady of Willesden loaned to us from the Museum of London for our new displays. To find out more about pilgrim badges visit the Museum of London’s website.

If you would like to make your own visit to St. Mary’s, visit the church’s website for more information on opening times.

 

 

Josephine Warren

Heritage Officer

Brent Museum and Archives