The Walsingham Way

The shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, said to be an exact copy of the Virgin’s house at Nazareth, drew pilgrims to rival Loreto and Compostela until Henry VIII, who had once walked there barefoot, had it desecrated. Erasmus described its relics and two wells whose cold water cured pains in the head; they became known as the Wishing Wells, for the Virgin was believed to grant pilgrims what they wished as they drank. It was also believed that the Milky Way pointed straight to Walsingham to guide pilgrims, so it was called the Walsingham Way, like the road through Norfolk marked by crosses in every town. Pilgrims still go to Walsingham.