Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Saturday, 30 May 2026

Marian Pilgrimage- Our Lady of the Red Mount Kings Lynn


The Pilgrimage now makes its penultimate stop at the chapel of Our Lady of the Red Mount in Kings Lynn.


 
   
Our Lady of the Red Mount

Image: Kings Lynn Civic Society




The vault of the upper chapel 

Image: Facebook - Borough of Kings Lynn


A reconstruction of the original roof

Image: GetArchive
   
This remarkable building was built as a chapel for pilgrims making their way to Walsingham. First proposed in 1483 and authorised in 1485 the upper chapel was added in 1506. It was rendered redundant by the destruction free Walsingham shrine, yet it survived, as is recounted in The remarkable tale  of Red Mount Chapel

There as a well-illustrated account on the Britain Express website at Red Mount Chapel, King's Lynn

My previous notes on the chapel can be accessed through those for last year at Marian Pilgrimage - Our Lady on the Red Mount at King’s Lynn

In two of those articles I mention the Book of Margery Kempe. This ubique dictated autobiography by a Kings Lynn businesswoman and housewife recounting her pilgrimages and her spiritual insights opens windows into early fifteenth century England in ways no other work does. If you have not read it I urge readers to do so. Margery is nothing if not her own woman - likeable, infuriating, amazing, very different yet very similar to ourselves.
 
May Our Lady of the Red Mount intercede for us and our intentions 

Jesu mercy, Mary pray

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