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York Minster Pilgrimage

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The statue is of Constantine lolling in a chair, just outside York Minster’s south door. On the other side of a pedistrianised roadway one of the great columns of the Roman Garrison’s Principia building has been re-errected. As I stood and surveyed the scene I was very close to the place where in 306 CE the IX Legion proclaimed Constantine Emperor, the successor to his father Constantius. Before Constantine died in 337 CE he had converted to Christianity and the privileges and status that had once belonged to those who promoted the cult of the Divine Emperor fell to well placed churchmen. Some thought the privilege, power and status too much and retreated into the cleansing austerity of the desert. Other’s relished in it, climbing the dizzy heights of hierarchy and enthusiastically taking over Imperial Rome’s loveof monumental buildings pouring endless resources into the building, beautifying and maintenance of Christain basilicas. I am inclined to say, “This is where,...
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First Day of the Rest of My Life

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 I have not posted much of late. I have been struggling. Between completing the pioneering work on a possible Withburga Way between Holkham and Dereham in the summer of 2022 and today my health has gone downhill in alarming way. I'll never walk the route in a couple of days, nor yet in 3.  I'll never walk it.  The rapid onset Pulmonary Fibrosis has left me struggling for breath putting my boots on let alone walking.  Yesterday, I went to St. Benet's Abbey , ate my picnic lunch in the car park and set myself the challenge of walking from the car park to the Abbey ruins. It is 0.35 miles and uphill all the way from from the Gate House to the old rugged cross that marks the site of the high altar at the summit. The hill looked quite daunting -  "Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?" I sang under by breath. Stopping often to catch my breath, slowly one foot in front of the other, I got closer to the summit. There before the cross, wind in my hair, it felt as i...
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Shelton, St. Mary

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Once upon a Tudor time, the name of Shelton was well known. The family’s manor house, at Shelton, now a parish in the Hempnall Team Ministry, was  a great palace.  The Sheltons were kinsmen of the Boleyn’s.  Ann, Henry VIIIs queen and mother of the Princess Elizabeth, had been named after her Shelton aunt. At one stage Ann Shelton had charge over Elizabeth and her  half-sister the Princess, soon to be Queen, Mary. For a cracking read in which the Shelton’s play a supporting role try Hilary Mantel’s books on Henry’s VIII Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies ! As a fan of Hilary Mantel,  I was already romantically attached to the parish of Shelton even though the once lavish Tudor Palace is no more.  Inquisitively, I decided to follow a newly published circular route that began and ended at the parish church.  I hope to add links to the walk here as soon as possible. For the time being pick up leaflets of all the Hem...
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