ESSEX worshippers have embarked on a pilgrimage to retrace the route taken by a saint on his last journey to his final resting place.
From 5th to 9th August, 20 pilgrims from Chelmsford Diocese walked the 85 miles from St Paul's Cathedral to St Edmundsbury Cathedral in a journey that mirrored that of St Edmund, King of East Anglia and first patron saint of England, whose body was taken through Essex from London to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk 1,000 years ago.
The pilgrimage started at St Paul's on Monday, where St Edmund's body was kept for safety from Viking raiders between 1010 and 1013. Before arriving at St Edmundsbury last Friday, the pilgrimage stopped at various points in Essex, including Greensted, home to the oldest wooden church in the world, and where the saint's body is believed to have rested, and Chelmsford Cathedral.
Canon Philip Banks, Precentor at St Edmundsbury, and formerly Vicar of Coggeshall in Essex for nearly twenty years, said on their arrival in Chelmsford: "This pilgrimage is important because it commemorates the 1,000th anniversary of the transferral of the body of St Edmund from St Paul's to St Edmundsbury."
The historical significance of the pilgrimage is clearly not lost either on organiser Nick Ellis from Castle Hedingham, who said: "I have organised many walks over the years. But being involved in planning this pilgrimage is by far my biggest project so far. It is not every day that I work with a team celebrating an early Patron Saint of England."
