**4. The British Pilgrimage Trust and the Invention of Place, Routes, and Rituals**

The growing popularity of walking and walking tours during the last fifty years in Britain and other European countries (Albers 2007) has encouraged the revival of mediaeval pilgrimage routes, such as those leading to Santiago de Compostela, Catholic shrines in France and Italy, as well as to cathedrals, former monasteries, and other sacred places across Britain. As the burgeoning literature on pilgrimage tourism and religious tourism has shown (Raj and Morpeth 2007), many walkers are not involved in institutional religion and express a wide variety of reasons for travelling along these ancient routes and new routes.

The British Pilgrimage Trust (BPT) illustrates this dynamic situation very clearly. Since its foundation in 2005, it has developed courses and walking tours through the resourceful use of social and mass media and by building networks between official bodies, such as English Heritage and the Church of England. In a 2006 article, "Pilgrimages are back with less Christianity", by the deputy editor of a Catholic weekly, the founders clearly articulated their approach:

The BPT stresses that not all pilgrims are religious: 'Bring your own beliefs' is the slogan. Guy Hayward, who co-founded the BPT with Will Parsons, observes: 'We have to tread very carefully around the language of spirituality and religion.' But he thinks pilgrimage has a universal appeal: it connects you to the world, and to other people. 'You're walking in the land, in nature, you're talking to people. It's not complicated, but at the same time it's very tangible. 'Perhaps, then, pilgrims should leave their smartphones at home? 'No, no!' Parsons is emphatic. 'We think that modern pilgrimage requires modern technology to make the most of it.' Phone maps are better than a fold-out when you're lost in a wood. The BPT plans an app to link pilgrims with accommodation spots—churches, fields, village halls.1

This was the background to a pilgrimage and walking tour I undertook on 2 February 2020. The eleven-mile circular walk was booked online, and its prime destination was Avebury, a village in South West England, and the Avebury Henge and Stone Circles, a UNESCO World Heritage site. According to English Heritage:

Built and much altered during the Neolithic period, roughly between 2850 BC and 2200 BC, the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain—originally of about 100 stones—which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.2

As English Heritage proceeds to explain, Avebury "is part of an extraordinary set of Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial sites that seemingly formed a vast sacred landscape". These sites "include West Kennet Avenue, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctuary, Windmill Hill, and the mysterious Silbury Hill" and this World Heritage landscape extended to the more famous Stonehenge only forty-five minutes away by car. Avebury attracted those who wanted to explore beyond the country's Christian heritage and the walk provided a vivid insight into the invention of rituals that contrasted sharply with those performed at Lourdes.

Guy Hayward, the co-founder of the BPT, sent instructions about where to meet by email and the walk began at the village of East Kennet. Twenty-five participants assembled in the village church where Guy and his two colleagues, Chris and Charlotte, greeted us and explained the significance of the day. In the Christian tradition, it was Candlemas, which commemorated the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem, and the Church of England's celebration involved the blessing of candles brought by worshippers who would use them throughout the year as a memento. However, Chris and Charlotte chose to emphasise the pre-Christian origins of the festival. Chris was a member

<sup>1</sup> www.spectator.co.uk/2016/07/pilgrimages-are-back-with-less-christianity/.

<sup>2</sup> www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/avebury/.

of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a storyteller, ecological artists, and beekeeper, who lived not far away3, whereas Charlotte ran a business in London as a modern-day alchemist, natural health practitioner, pilgrimage ceremonialist, and ritual facilitator and provided an online apothecary.4

Chris referred to the goddess Brighid, whose wooden cross he was holding, and explained that she was associated with Imbolc, the festival of light and fire that celebrated the half-way point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. He gave everyone a blunt pin to which we could attach our hopes and prayers for what we wanted from the day and later place it in the River Kennet. He also explained about the development of agriculture, settled populations, and religious functionaries. Charlotte then spoke about Brighid as goddess of fertility with her close link to Ireland, her many names (Bree, Britannia, Brigid, Brich). Guy finished this introduction by talking about Christianity, the nearby River Kennet, and the importance of water. He then sang a song (he was a former Cambridge University choral scholar) about our relationship to nature and explained where we were walking to.

As we walked to the next stop—a Neolithic stone circle—I was able to take stock of the group and get to know some of them. Most appeared to be white middle-class professionals between the ages of 40 and 65, 17 of the 25 were women, and, judging by people's attire, many were experienced walkers. They included two travel writers; a journalist who was going to write an article on the day for *The Guardian* newspaper5; an IT project manager; a researcher; a retired businessman; a local farmer; several small business entrepreneurs, including the BPT organisers (Guy, Charlotte, and Chris); an American regular visitor to Britain; and a duchess, who was one of the BPT's trustees. Because I was only able to talk to a few in the group, I was unable to learn much about the participants' beliefs concerning pilgrimage, but they were clearly open to the inclusive approach adopted by the group leaders even if some had come from conventional religious backgrounds (one was a clergyman's daughter, another was a regular Anglican worshipper, whereas another was a Muslim convert).

At each Neolithic site, the leaders had devised a small ritual to help people connect with one another and with the place itself. At the first stop on the walk, after everyone had looked at the signs provided by English Heritage that explained the site's history and slowly walked round the outer ring of stones, we formed a circle in the centre. Guy explained the site's history and reminded us to think about our intentions for undertaking the pilgrimage while Chris blessed a nearby stone with mead he had brewed himself from a small glass jar. As the wind and rain blew across the open landscape, he asked us in turn to pronounce our first names and then look carefully at each member of the group. At the end of this ritual, he explained that names bore the essence of a person or thing.

The weather improved as we made our way to the Long Barrow where once again Chris outlined the history of the place and the surrounding landscape. He explained that the entrance, marked by a massive stone, faced east to the rising sun, birth, heat, life in contrast to the west where the sun sets. He encouraged people to go inside and hum like the bees to evoke the spooky atmosphere, whereas Charlotte suggested that we commune with the stone by pressing our foreheads against it, bringing our prayers, petitions, and blessings.

The third place we visited was the most interesting in its rich symbolism. We walked across fields and down to a spring linked to the River Kennet by a small stream. Chris explained the significance of springs and wells, Charlotte again referred to Brighid and asked us to pronounce her names and encouraged us to wash in the water. We were also encouraged to use some stepping-stones to stand in the middle of the stream and experience the flow of the water rushing by. Only two were brave enough to stand on the wet stepping-stones—there were more volunteers to drink from the water filter that Guy filled from the stream. A weeping willow tree stood near the junction of the stream

<sup>3</sup> www.wisdomkeepers.earth/post/interview-with-chris-park.

<sup>4</sup> See www.instagram.com/pulvers.apothecary/?hl=en.

<sup>5</sup> The article was published on February 29 by Holly Tuppen, 'Stone circles, silence and sanctuary: finding yourself on an Avebury pilgrimage', www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/feb/19/stone-circles-silence-sanctuary-avebury-pilgrimagesilbury-hill, accessed 23 July 2020.

and the river and Charlotte explained the meanings associated with this tree, whereas another nearby willow tree was festooned with coloured ribbons and other mementoes. The sacred quality of the site was, however, spoiled for some by the black plastic covers and rubbish left by other "pilgrims" in the nearby undergrowth.

After singing a song in praise of nature and our relationship with our environment, we continued on our way. People were getting tired as we had to negotiate a steep ascent to the next site—a burial ground on the outskirts of the Avebury complex—where we rested and had a picnic. We then walked down to Avebury itself where the pilgrimage neatly brought together pre-Christian and Christian heritage as we walked round the famous stone circle (henge) and visited the parish church with its rare surviving rood screen. The henge was constructed between 2850 and 2220 BCE and originally comprised

[A] huge circular earthwork mound and ditch that surrounds the inner stone circle. The circle consisted of large sarsen stones, some as large as 40 tonnes and a height of over 4 m, and originally it had around 100 stones in total. This outer circle then encased a further two inner circles.6

It was abandoned after 1800 BCE and a village gradually developed with the inhabitants making use of the abandoned stones.

[A]lmost all of the large sarsen stones have been removed in previous centuries by locals for either religious reasons (many were destroyed in the 17th and 18th century when Puritans were more mainstream in the country and also in the 14th century as is seen with the discovery of a body under a buried stone) or for building materials. (Ibid)

A busy road now runs through the henge as it leads up to the motorway between London and Bristol.

The members of the group were invited to perform two rituals that referred to Avebury's pre-Christian and Christian heritage. When we arrived at the henge, Guy talked about its history and then invited people to commune with its history and material energy by sitting on a seat carved into one of the remaining huge stones on the outer ring. A few solemnly proceeded to do so, whereas others walked over to the rampart circling the henge and the 'Tolkien trees' with their profuse, exposed, snake-like roots, festoon of ribbons and messages left on their trunks.7 After crossing the busy road and a toilet break, Guy led us to the village church, stopping at the lynch gate, which he described in terms of the Christian break with pre-Christian traditions. Although the sacred was immanent everywhere before Christianity, the gate was a liminal space marking the transition from the secular world into the sacred space of the church and its surrounds. In the apex of the gate's lintel was carved a scallop shell—a reference to the church's dedication to St James the Apostle and a link to another pilgrimage route, the *camino*, leading to St. James's shrine at Santiago de Compostela (Spain). After browsing around the church, which seemed very welcoming to this eclectic range of visitors/pilgrims, the group made their way as night fell back to their cars, completing the circular tour, and group solidarity quickly broke down as tired limbs and minds encouraged people to make a quick get-away.

<sup>6</sup> https://lostinlandmarks.com/guide-to-visiting-avebury-stone-circle-village-wiltshire/

<sup>7</sup> In a blog, written by a 'twenty-something traveler, occasional female solo traveler', the trees were associated with Tolkien's *Lord of the Rings*: 'My friend, who had been before, told me these trees had been the inspiration for JRR Tolkien's 'walking trees' or Ents in The Lord of the Rings. If you've either seen the film or read the books, you'll recall the walking trees I'm talking about ... Ents are the huge talking trees that help the hobbits. People have tied ribbons to the tree's branches with wishes written on them. Unfortunately, I didn't know this was also the Avebury wishing tree, so I didn't have a ribbon on me'. See www.travelherstory.com/europe/visit-jrr-tolkiens-trees-avebury.
