Wayfarers and pilgrims
This is a short story about Botolph of Thorney, abbot and patron saint of boundaries - he preferred his to be tidal, of farming and travel too.
Poking around in tucked-away parish churches, often reveal remarkable landscape links told in place names, headstones, pilgrims routes and relics.
This is a short story about Botolph of Thorney, a seventh century monk, abbot and patron saint of boundaries - he preferred his to be tidal, also of farming and travel.
The exact details of his life are murky, written four hundred years after his death, so it’s no surprise there are competing versions of where and when he lived and died.
I am sharing the popular version that says in 654 he was given a grant of land to build a monastery - more a humble monks cell. He naturally chose a desolate and marshy area, on a spit of land at a place called Ikanho, now identified as Iken on the estuary of the River Alde in Suffolk. I visited on a sunny afternoon, but could image how bleak it would be in cold, damp weather with that bone-chilling onshore wind howling in straight off the North Sea!
So far, so unremarkable
Two centuries later in around 870, the monastery and many others along that coast were destroyed by Danish invaders. The saint's remains were divvied up into three parts and taken from the ruined monastery to be reinterred in Ely and Westminster Abbey’s.
It is likely however, given the flourishing trade in relics at the time, that the parts were conveyed from place to place before reaching Ely and Westminster. This could be how his name became synonymous with wayfarers and travellers.
Of the many churches dedicated to him, some are located near former gates in city walls as it was believed that the churches provided places for travellers to give thanks for a safe arrival, or to attempt to secure a safe onward journey.
Closer to home and along another ancient Trail, St Botolph’s Swyncombe is a Norman pilgrim church, a reference to its place on a pilgrims route, now better known as the Ridgeway National Trail.
Whilst he lived in a cold corner of East Anglia, his legacy is international: over 70 churches, five towns and villages named after him and his feast day celebrated on June 17th in England.
Did you know that Botolph is even remembered in Boston Massachusetts? Which is named after Boston in Lincolnshire, originally Botolphston from ‘Boltoph’s stone’’ Another city with competing claims to saint Botolph.
Links you will need
Growing in popularity, pilgrimage has the potential to promote community and diversity in Britain’s spiritual landscape, and it’s no surprise the variety of routes to choose from grows each year. The British Pilgrimage Trust is a good place to start any planning.
I recommend approaching St Botolph’s Iken on foot, accessible along the lovely footpath from Snape Maltings and still a popular pilgrims route.
No sign of any relics, but I was delighted to find this special place, St Botolph Swyncombe, tucked away in a ‘green Chilterns desert’.
Despite being an ancient route, the Ridgeway National Trail is this year celebrating 50 years since becoming a National Trail, now part of the family of 16 long distance walking routes across England and Wales. There is a lot going on this year that you can participate in at your desk or on the Trail.