Recent Family and Parish Pilgrimages:

`Dickens in Southwark` Feb 7th 2012:

Southwark Cathedral`s celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens

Southwark Cathedral's  North Transept, Bell Tower and Millenium Courtyard  Until 1905 it was the Parish Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overy, in the Diocese of Winchester .  The Palace of the Bishop of Winchester was next door.  Much of the original Churchyard was lost to the London and South Coast Railway between 1830 and 1865. 

        Our group meeting up with a Guide   `Nancy's Steps', where she was killed     Dickens knew London Bridge Station    in the Millenium Courtyard.                 in`Oliver!' (but not in Dickens' novel!)    (just), but not the `Shard`, of course!

      London Bridge Approach, which young Dickens crossed every          The view of St Mary Overy, more or less as he   day on his way to work in the blacking factory                                        would have known it.        

Site of St Thomas' opposite (Guy's was, and still is, also nearby);  Junction of Borough High St and Marshalsea St  Dickens records some of its characters in his novels                           (it was at least as busy then as it is now)

Site of White Hart Inn, immortalised in 'Pickwick             The famous `George Inn` and Coach Yard; the oldest part  Papers' as the home of the Pickwick Club                              of the present building dates from the 17th century

  `The Tabard Inn' was well known to Dickens,       He would also recognise much of Borough High Street as we see       Chaucer's Pilgrims & Shakespeare's Henry V       it  today

    One of many surviving Inn Yards; John Harvard was born & bred nearby; St George the Martyr from Boro High St

  Memorials to Marshalsea Debtors Prison are set in      Inside the surviving wall of the Prison where Dickens'              the roadway in Angel Street                                                   father was incarcerated

The Paupers Grave at St George the Martyr probably             Inside St George's, where Charles` parents married  contains the remains of Dickens' parents; a controversial                                                                                              'artwork Dickens memorial' is to be put beside the church.

Hearth in St George's Vestry Room      The font where she was baptised;      Henry V as St George (with Little Dorrit  where  Little Dorrit fell asleep                                                                                     praying in the bottom rt hand corner)

   St George's Altar Frontal                         View north along Borough High St,     Lant St, where young Dickens lodged                                                                            past St George's Church                         while his father was in Prison

There have been many subsequent attempts to alleviate the conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged highlighted in Dickens' novels:                                                                   

      Octavia Hill's Red Cross Garden and pioneering workers' housing (1911)      Memorial to the first woman to become  The Cathedral Primary School overlooks, and the Shard looms!                       Guardian of the Poor in Southwark

    Cross Bones Shrine to the Outcast Dead (Winchester geese prostitutes); Borough Market where Ben Allen lay drunk

The Cathedral from Boro' High St;     the Bell Tower from `Lancelot's Link`;  an excavated medieval grave & coffin. Bells are prominent in Dickens work,       Lancelot Andrews was a 16thC Bishop of Winchester buried in the church   and he records witnessing a practice.

 Celebratory Choral Evensong, with Dickens Readings, followed by a Talk by Dickens biographer, Clare Tomalin

Assisi: Sept 2011

Hilltop site of the walled medieval city

San Rufino Cathedral                                                       Cathedral nave                                  Statue of St Francis

Vaulted medieval alleyway                  Decorated vault off Piazza Comune       Chiesa Nuova (Francis' Parish Church)

Cell where Francis imprisoned           Francis' Santuario                                               Gateway at S Francesco Piccolino

Town Wall and Gate in Via Chiara                                       Basilica S Chiara (St Clare)

Piazza & Basilica San Francesco Inferiore                          Francis overlooking Basilica Superiore (S Sagristo)

Anglican Communion in the Basilica       Chiesa Santa Caterina - ornate               Via San Francesco - steep                   

San Damiano Chapel (built by Francis)         St Clare's Coretto (Choir)                            San Damiano Cloisters

15thC Madonna & Child fresco;   Stole made for Francis near death;   St Francis praying among the rocks (Giotto)

NB: There are more Assisi pictures on the `Home and Family` page of this website.

Lake Garda/Oberammergau June 2010:

  Father Bernhard at makeshift altar           Lake Garda setting for Eucharist          Compline by the Hotel pool

Oberammergau village overview                 Elaborate nativity wood carving         Painted `Pilatushaus` in the village

Auditorium and stage with principals and chorus             Last Supper

`The King of the Jews`                                       The Crucifixion

Walsingham 2008:

Pilgrims from St Stephens in procession                          Our Lady of Walsingham         Lighting candles at the Shrine

Chapel Sanctuary                     Abbey West Front & site 0f the `Holy House`                                   Margaret in the Crypt

Parish Peregrinations and Perambulations 2007-8:

                                                           Carol's `Bell Appeal" (2007)                My Parish "Walk in the Woods" (2008)

Parish Visit to Westminster Abbey, Sept 2011:

  Abbey West Front                             Memorial to 2othC Christian Martyrs             Abbey Cloisters at Evensong