2020 Year of Cathedrals – Year of Pilgrimage

2020 promises to be an exciting year as all 42 English Cathedrals join together to celebrate 2020 Year of Cathedrals – Year of Pilgrimage. All cathedrals will be getting involved with initiatives aimed at bringing more people closer to God. Here at Southwell Minster we are offering:

Pilgrim Passport

As part of the Year of the Cathedral and the Year of Pilgrimage, cathedrals in England are encouraging people to “document your own adventure of discovery” with a Pilgrim Passport.

You are invited to use this passport to follow in the footsteps of many thousands of pilgrims who have come to these places over the centuries to learn, think about their lives, and ask for God’s help and guidance.

If you’re starting your journey in Southwell, you can buy your passport for £5 from either our Cathedral Shop or the Welcome Desk.

When you visit a cathedral, ask at the welcome desk for a passport stamp or sticker to log where you have been. You can also record your experience at each place and use the list provided in the front to plan further visits.

Good luck on your pilgrimage!

One Day Pilgrimage Routes

The Walter Hilton Way

Thurgarton to Southwell. This 5-mile pilgrimage across the lovely, quiet fields of a hidden part of Nottinghamshire follows in the footsteps of the fourteenth-century spiritual writer, Walter Hilton who lived as an Augustinian Canon at the Priory.

The Wells of Southwell

A circular walk from the Burgage Green in Southwell takes you from the poet Lord Byron’s house, Burgage Manor, across to the original South Well and down the quiet lanes to Brackenhurst and across Cundy Hill to St Catharine’s holy well. After picturesque Westhorpe the path leads across Norwood Park to Maythorne, and along the River Greet, where Byron learnt to swim, and back to Southwell Minster and its wonderful leaf carvings. The Pilgrims’ Chapel, where you can end your own pilgrimage, is on the site of the medieval baptistery and may have been a healing pool in Roman times.

For more details on these pilgrimages and downloadable route maps, please see https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/southwell-minster-pilgrimage-in-a-day/.

Please note that the Chapter House will be inaccessible at times during summer 2020 due to the Leaves of Southwell Project.