Our Lady of Walsingham

Part of a pilgrim badge from the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham at Walsingham Priory. This open work badge depicts part of the Holy House – a small chapel built around 1061 in honour of the Virgin Mary at Walsingham. The chapel was built by a lady called Richelde of Fervaques and was meant to be a replica of the house at Nazareth where the Angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was to give birth to Christ. The design of the house was said to have been revealed by the Virgin to Richelde in a dream. It became the focus of pilgrimage at Walsingham and the priory was built around it to look after it.

This badge shows the top of the roof and the left side of the house, which is decorated with stripes. Part of the Annunciation scene can also be seen in the centre of the badge: the figure of Mary is on the left, the top of the lily representing her purity is in the middle and the head of the Angel Gabriel is on the right.

The shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk was a popular pilgrimage destination in the medieval period, especially after Henry III made a series of pilgrimages there in the 13th century.