Saxon & Medieval — Late Medieval; late 14th-early 15th century
Our Lady of Walsingham
Pilgrim badge from the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham at Walsingham Priory. This open work badge depicts 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. The house was kept intact for 400 years and contained many treasures of the shrine. Thousands of pilgrims would have filed through to worship there.
The roof and gables of the house are decorated with stripes. 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 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.
- Category:
- Saxon & Medieval
- Object ID:
- 88.53
- Object name:
- Our Lady of Walsingham
- Object type:
- Artist/Maker:
- —
- Related people:
- Related events:
- Related places:
- Production date:
- Late Medieval; late 14th-early 15th century
- Material:
lead alloy, tin alloy, pewter
- Measurements/duration:
- H 37 mm, W 31 mm (overall)
- Part of:
- —
- On display:
- —
- Record quality:
- 100%
- Part of this object:
- —
- Owner Status & Credit:
Permanent collection
- Copyright holder:
digital image © London Museum
- Image credit:
- —
- Creative commons usage:
- —
- License this image:
To license this image for commercial use, please contact the London Museum Picture Library.