Reepham Benefice
Posing Questions, Initiating Debate, Exploring Evidence
The Shrine of Our Lady of Reepham
In medieval times, this Church was an important place of Pilgrimage. Whilst not as famous as the Shrine at Walsingham, nevertheless, people came on pilgrimage to Reepham to visit the image of Our Lady of Reepham, which had many miracles attributed to it.
We do not know exactly what form this image took. It may have been a statue, or perhaps a wood carving. We do know that it was an important place and it is mentioned in the will of one Alice Cook of Horstead who wrote that after her death, in order to smooth her passage from this world to the next, she would “Have a man goo a pilgrimage to our Lady of Reifham.......”
An extract from her will is shown below.
Pupils on Pilgrimage to Reepham
In December 2008, year 3 children from Reepham Primary School were told about this shrine as part of their project on Pilgrimages.
They made a pilgrimage from the school to St. Mary’s, and considered what the shrine might have looked like, what it was like visiting the shrine, and also designed some pilgrim badges that the medieval pilgrims would have bought as a memento of their visit.
Their thoughts and ideas are displayed here for all to see.
Today, there is nothing left of the shrine, and apart from Alice Cook’s will and a few references in some old books there is very little evidence for us to know what the shrine looked like. Even so, these few references from our past are a reminder of just how important Reepham and this Church were, a place of deep prayer and somewhere where it was believed that miracles took place.
What Our Pupils Had to Say
“I think pilgrims would have felt happy, brave and religious. I think the Holy Image would have looked like Mary standing looking towards Jesus, holding Jesus in her arms, leaning her head, looking like she loved Jesus. I think it was a statue. I think the pilgrim badge looked like a heart with it saying, I have been on a pilgrimage.”
“We went to church on pilgrimage. The Pilgrims feet did hurt. People from far away came to the church and they prayed”
“On Monday, year 3 came to the church and learned about pilgrimages. Pilgrimage is when people come from a long way to pray to God at a Holy place because miracles happen there. The people who went on pilgrimage were religious people. People went on pilgrimage to pray to God through a statue.”
“We pretended to go on a pilgrimage to the church. A Pilgrimage is when lots of people go to pray at a statue of Mary and Jesus. Lots of people went on a pilgrimage to pray at the statue of Mary and Jesus.”
“When people got to Reepham Church I think they were really tired and relieved that they got there. I think the statue was Mary holding Jesus and tilting her head into Jesus to show that she loved him. I Think the pilgrim badge looked like Reepham church to show that they’ve been to Reepham church”