Who turned Walsingham Abbey into a ruin?
The remains of the big arch of Walsingham Abbey.
The story begins in 1061 when Richeldis de Faverches, Lady of the Manor of Walsingham saw the Virgin Mary in a vision.
Mary asked her three times to build a replica of their house in Nazareth at Walsingham.
This was done and it became a major place of pilgrimage for four hundred years.
Find out what a pilgrimage is.
from Schoolnet.
A famous book about Pilgrims called
'The Canterbury Tales'
was written by a man called
Geoffrey Chaucer.
Try reading his writing.
Look at some of the other buildings in Walsingham
But it was all destroyed in 1538.
The Church at that time, throughout europe, was lead by the Pope in Rome. Many people were unhappy with its power and practices.
In England too, people wanted a say in their religious affairs. Then the Pope refused Henry a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon because she hadn't produced a son.
Well that was that, Henry broke from the Catholic Church and destroyed churches, shrines, banned pilgrimages and killed many religious people.
Walsingham was one of those places.
This period of history is known as
Watch Timelines TV
Navigate to the Reformation Section.
