The Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is a Church of England shrine church built in 1938 in Walsingham, Norfolk, England. Walsingham is the site of the reputed Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches in 1061. The Virgin Mary is, therefore, venerated at the shrine with the title of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The shrine church was substantially extended in the 1960s. The church has a holy well known for its healing properties; receiving water from the holy well is often accompanied by the laying on hands and anointing. The faithful often take water from the well home and distribute it to their family, friends and parishioners.
The grounds include the shrine church, gardens, several chapels, a refectory, a café, a shrine shop, a visitors’ centre, the Pilgrim Hall, an orangery, the College (home to priests-associate when in residence), and a large number of different residential blocks for the accommodation of resident pilgrims.
In 1947, three sisters of the Society of Saint Margaret moved to Walsingham to help at the shrine. The Priory of Our Lady, Walsingham, was founded in 1955 as a daughter priory and gained independence as an autonomous house of the Order in 1994. The sisters welcome guests and work in the shrine; they are also involved in educational work.
The shrine of our Lady of Walsingham is a notable part of the Catholic history of England. In 1061, our Lady appeared in a vision to a pious Norfolk lady, Richeldis de Faverches, and asked her to build a replica of the house at Nazareth where the Annunciation had taken place. Richeldis did as our Lady asked, and the Holy House was cared for by the Augustinian canons of a large abbey church. Walsingham became the medieval world’s greatest Marian shrine, known as England’s Nazareth. It rivalled Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostella as a place of pilgrimage.
