Walsingham

Walsingham, a small town of one long street and 1016 inhabitants in the north of Norfolk, 31 miles NE. of King's Lynn by rail. The Augustinian Priory, of which some ruins are left, was founded according to tradition in 1016. It contained a famous image of the Virgin, known as 'Our Lady of Walsingham,' to which many pilgrimages were made. Henry VIII. made the pilgrimage barefoot, and Erasmus' Peregrinatio religionis ergo (Eng. trans. by Gough Nichols, 2d ed. 1875) records a visit of the great humanist. At Old Walsingham, a small village 1 mile NE., Roman remains have been found.