Canterbury pilgrim signs

Pilgrims returning from the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury wore small leaden signs in their hats or as brooches, and many were later found in the mud of the Thames. Giraldus Cambrensis noted the custom in the twelfth century, when a bishop in London knew at a glance that he had just come from Canterbury. Chambers explains that the signs were worn not only to show the pilgrimage had been made but as charms against accidents on the road. Even the pilgrims’ horses carried little bells inscribed Campana Thome.