The shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, was established during the reign of Saint Edward the Confessor in 1061. Richeldis de Faverches, lady of the manor of Walsingham, was inspired by a a vision in which Our Lady, the Mother of God, took her in spirit to Nazareth and showed her the house of the Annunciation and the home of the Holy Family. Our Lady requested that a replica of the holy house be built in Walsingham that would serve as a perpetual memorial of the Annunciation.

Walsingham became known as "England's Nazareth" and was a place of prayer, grace, healing, miraculous cures, penance, reparation and reconciliation.

At the Reformation, on 4th August 1538, Our Lady's shrine was destroyed and the famous statue burnt. Walsingham was left in desolation and fell into dereliction and anonymity.

Pilgrimages were revived in 1897 by the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, and a shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham was established at King's Lynn until 1934.

The Slipper Chapel at Walsingham, which was the last of many chapels en-route to the ancient shrine, was restored for Catholic use and became the National Shrine of Our Lady in England in 1934.
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Our Lady of Walsingham - Statue.

Our Lady, as she is venerated at Walsingham, is depicted as a simple woman, a mother. She is seated on the throne of Wisdom, in the midst of the Church which is represented by the two pillars symbolic of the Gate of Heaven, with seven rings to signify the seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The arched back of the throne reminds us of the rainbow which was set as a sign of God’s fidelity to his creation. Our Lady is clothed in the blue of divinity, the white of motherhood and the red of virginity. In her hand she holds a lily-sceptre with three blooms because she was virginal before, during and after the Saviour’s birth. As the Woman of the New Creation, the New Eve, she crushes beneath her feet a toadstone, symbolic of the power of evil. As the Queen of Heaven and of England, her Dowry, she is crowned with a Saxon crown.

On his mother’s knee is the child Jesus who, as the Word of God made Flesh, holds the book of the Gospels. He extends his right arm in a double gesture of blessing and protection of his mother.