Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wall at Boston

As I pointed out last year Boston lies at the mouth of the river Witham, south east of Lincoln. 

So far as I know the location, let alone any remains of the shrine set into the town wall are lost. I would think it was perhaps the particular focus of prayer by merchants and seafarers.

My previous posts can be accessed through last year’s notes at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wall at Boston

If one wants to get a sense of the piety of late medieval Boston then the place to look is, of course, its monumental medieval parish church of St Botolph.

Wikipedia has an article about the church at St_Botolph's_Church,_Boston and there is another good one from Bostonstory which can be accessed at St Botolph's Church

St Botolph’s from the Market Place

Image: Wikipedia 

St Botolph Boston

Image: Bostonstory.co.uk

May Our Lady in the Wall at Boston intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage- Our Lady of Lincoln

 TheOilgrimage now heads south to Lincoln and the cathedral there. Leaving Axholme the medieval pilgrim would have had two basic choices. One route would be along the Lincoln Edge following the Roman road Ernibe Street that runs straight as a die from Lincoln to the Humber. The other possibility would be to travel beside or on the Trent south to the Foss Dyke created by the Romans to link the Trent to the Witham at the Brayford Pool in the centre of Lincoln and ultimately the Wash. Whichever way they travelled they sooner or later they would see, many mikes ahead the triple spires and commanding bulk of Lincoln Cathedral 

  

 The west front of Lincoln Cathedral before the removal of the timber and lead spires in 1807.

The spire on the central tower collapsed in 1548.

Although almost certainly not the 584 feet high often quoted it was something approaching that and the tallest building in the world until the later nineteenth century.  

A painting by A.C.Pugin 

Image: Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester 

 

If the objective on the Pilgrimage was the statue of Our Lady by the High Altar the Cathedral could also offer shrine of St Hugh , of his head, of Little St Hugh and rge tombs of two bishops popularly regarded as potential saints, Robert Grosseteste and John of Dalderby.

My previous posts about the Marian devotion at Lincoln can be accessed from that for last year at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Lincoln

Although some of the treasures of the various shrines had been confiscated by 1541 according to Gareth Russell’s excellent biography of Catherine HowardYoung & Damned & Fair, quoting the great historian of Lincoln Sir Francis Hill, one golden statue of the Virgin was hidden away in the vaults of the cathedral when Thomas Cromwell’ s agents came and it was not rediscovered until 1586. 

The modern statue of Our Lady in Lincoln Cathedral

Image: The Orthodox Art Journal

May Our Lady of Lincoln intercede

 for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wood at Epworth

The Pilgrimage now travels to the Carthusian house of Our Lady in the Wood in the Isle of Axholme in north west Lincolnshire.   

The Isle of Axholme in 1626 before Vermuyden’s drainage scheme

The site of the priory is marked. south east of Epworth

Image:North Lincolnshire Museum

 

The site of the priory today

 Image: Facebook - Mike Garrett

Details of recent archaeological surveys of the site, now represented by today Low Melwood Farm can be accessed at Isle of Axholme Community Group - All Things Allowed

My post from last year with its links to previous ones, notably that from 2020, can be seen at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady in the Wood at Epworth

In last year’s note I drew attention to the death at the priory of Edmund of Langley, first Duke of York, in 1402. I realise I failed to point out that the Duke held the manor and chase of Hatfield, which lay just to the west in Yorkshire. He could therefore have been on a local pilgrimage at the time, or maybe that sensing his death was imminent he asked to be transferred there so as to die surrounded by the prayers of the Carthusians.

I see that my 2020 post about the foundation or the house and its endowment has lost the image I included of Thomas Mowbray. It is, I think, the only contemporary likeness of him that survives, and I am reposting it below. 

King Richard II appoints Thomas Mowbray as Earl Marshal in 1385-6. He is holding the distinctive baton of his new office.

From a manuscript of circa 1390

Image: Wikipedia 

May Our Lady in the Wood intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Derby

Returning to the midlands the Pilgrimage now pauses at a Marian shrine  of which I nothing until today although I was aware of it as a Catholic shrine. It is the bridge chapel of St Mary at one end of the bridge, also known as St Mary’s, which crosses the Derwent in Derby. 

Probably first built in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century it was apparently extended and rebuilt in the fifteenth century with provision for an anchores, as well as the chantry priest. By this time it was under the jurisdiction of the collegiate church of All Saints, which was itself under the authority of the Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. Like the bridge All Saints was, save for its great west tower, rebuilt in the eighteenth century and since 1927 has served as the cathedral of the Anglican diocese of Derby. Today it once more has the bridge chapel as part of its responsibilies.

St Mary’s Chapel 

Image: Wikipedia 

Apparently by the late fifteenth century the chapel on the bridge housed a statue of the Virgin and Child which was black. It attracted more offerings than any other church in the town apart from the shrine of St Alkmund in the church dedicated to him.

After the suppression of the chantries the building had many uses and not a few alterations, until it was rescued and restored in the twentieth century.

The interior

Image: Discover Derby

Wikipedia has an illustrated account of the chapel at St_Mary's_Bridge_Chapel, and the cathedral website has one at The Bridge Chapel, 

The south side of the chapel and the bridge

Image: Wikipedia 

Today the chapel is still a place of pilgrimage, nowadays commemorating three Catholic priests who were martyred nearby in July 1588. They were Nicholas_Garlick, Robert_Ludlam and Richard_Simpson. After their execution their heads and quarters were displayed at St Mary's chapel, which by then was serving as a prison before being set up around the town.

John Speed’s map of Derby of 1611

St Mary’s chapel  and bridge are at the top right

Image: The Old Map Company

May Our Lady of Derby intercede for us and our intentions

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage- Our Lady of the Park at Liskeard

The Pilgrimage makes its one visit to the further south west and to the shrine of Our Lady of the Park at Liskeard. 

My article about it from last year, and those from previous years, incorporate several links to websites about the site and attempts to re-establish it as a place of pilgrimage. I will say that some of those moves do reveal something of ‘Celtic’ and ‘New Age’ spirituality which are things about which I am somewhat supicious. That is not to deny the long established tradition of devotion there, or the good intentions of those seeking a revival.

 

Last year’s post can be accessed at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of the Park at Liskeard

I will also add the link to a Facebook site on Cornish Holy Wells. This commences with pictures of the Lady Park well. The text suggests that the medieval chapel was incorporated into the house at Lady Park, and one of the photographs indicates the proximity of the house and the well. 

The site also indicates the frequency of such wells in Cornwall and can be seen at Cornish holy, ancient, healing, and historic wells | Ladye Park, near Moorswater, Liskeard

Another post on that site indicates that Liskeard abounded in holy wells, notaably another one still known as Lady Well in the town centre that was being ‘searched’, presumably for coins given in offering, by the local authorities in 1574-5. This can be seen at Holy Wells of Cornwall *Group* | Lady Well, Liskeard

May Our Lady of the Park at Liskeard intercede for us and our intentions 

 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray 

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower

Returning to the City of London the Pilgrimage now stops at a shrine that enjoyed much royal interest and patronage from the thirteenth century onwards. This was at the church of All Hallows Barking by the Tower.

My post from last year, with links to previous ones, can be seen at Marian pilgrimage - Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower

I would urge those who are interested and have the time to read the fascinating and very detailed account of the church down to 1548 from the Survey of London which is linked to in the earliest of those posts, and which I am reproducing here. The later history of the church is also given in the same volume.

  

The church is very well worth visiting for all that the fabric has suffered over the centuries.

The Tower of London and its environs in 1597

All Hallows can be seen on the extreme top left 

Image: A London Inheritance 

    

 

All Hallows from the north

The Lady Chapel with the statue and the location of the Royal Chantry probably stood where the pavement or road now run

The copper spire is a striking addition made during the post WWII restoration 

Image: Gants Hill URC

May Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Aylesford

Heading back towards London the Pilgrimage comes to the Medway and to the Carmelite friary at Aylesford. This was founded in 1242, dissolved in 1538, and re-founded by the Order in some of the original buildings in 1949. 

My posts from previous years can be found through last year’s article at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Aylesford

The Carnelites have an excellent illustrated online history of the house at The Friars - Aylesford Priory
 

A reconstruction of the medieval friary

Image: the friars.org.uk

Aylesford today
     
Image: the friars.org.uk

May Our Lady of  Aylesford intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bradstow at Broadstairs

This shrine on the coast of Thanet is one I added to the Pilgrimage two years ago.  My articles about it can be accessed, along with a number of additional links about its history, from last year’s post at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady of Bradstow at Broadstairs

  

The much altered and adapted remains of the chapel today. A plaque indicating the history of the building can be seen on the left

Image: Rob Baker on Facebook

May Our Lady of Bradstow intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray