What is a pilgrimage?

A pilgrimage is a devotional practice consisting of a prolonged journey, often undertaken on foot or on horseback, toward a specific destination of significance. It is an inherently transient experience, removing the participant from his or her home environment and identity. The means or motivations in undertaking a pilgrimage might vary, but the act, however performed, blends the physical and the spiritual into a unified experience.
Origins
The origins of pilgrimage are difficult to determine, but deliberately visiting powerful sites is a practice that predates antiquity. Pilgrimages have long been a common feature of many world religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shinto.
Motivation
A believer might undertake a pilgrimage in fulfilment of a vow, as atonement for sins, as a gesture of thanks for positive events, or as a means of intercession, among other reasons. Prior to the age of exploration in Europe, pilgrimage was a primary impetus for travel, especially among non-elites, and played a significant role in local economies and the transmission of culture.
Christian pilgrims
In the Christian pilgrimage tradition, the practice revolves around visiting either sites significant in the Bible — particularly those concerning the life of Christ — or in the lives of saints, or paying reverence to holy relics.
The three main destinations of Christian pilgrimage are Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela, and for most pilgrims throughout history reaching these sites was a prolonged and possibly dangerous endeavour. However, smaller and more local pilgrimage sites — such as Canterbury Cathedral in England or the Holy House of Loreto in Italy — also enjoyed great popularity.
Although the twelfth century is largely considered to have been the golden age of Christian pilgrimage, it remained a devotional practice throughout the following centuries.
Pilgrimage persists
Evidence of pilgrimages throughout history still surrounds us, if one knows where and how to look. In art, pilgrims are often recognizable by their attributes: staff, cloak, large-brimmed hat, small satchel (a "scrip"), flask, worn boots, and the scallop shell. Many museum collections also include the types of small, personal items that a pilgrim would have brought back from his or her journey, such as badges, or flasks (called “ampullae”) filled with holy water or oil.
Pilgrimages still enjoy great popularity today, although the definition of what constitutes an ‘authentic’ pilgrim is debated. The modern pilgrimage, while still a strictly religious exercise for many, has also been embraced as a more fluidly spiritual experience, open to all participants, regardless of their beliefs.
Our places of pilgrimage

Lindisfarne Castle
In the seventh century St. Aidan established a monastery on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, over which Lindisfarne Castle presides. The site has a long history as a pilgrimage destination, accessible to pilgrims via a causeway that can only be traversed when the tide is low.

The White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover are an iconic coastal landmark overlooking the narrowest part of the English Channel. They have historically been a point of embarkation for the European continent, including for English pilgrims bound for Rome. European pilgrims would likewise have landed on the shores of Dover and made their way inland to Canterbury.

Ysbyty Ifan
Until 1190 Ysbyty Ifan was known as Dôl Gynwal (Welsh for Gynwal's Meadow). It was renamed Ysbyty Ifan (meaning hospital of St John) after it came to the attention of the Knights of St John, an order of Hospitallers, who were bound to protect pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land and on religious journeys. They chose to set up a hospital and hostel to care for pilgrims in Ysbyty Ifan as it was located on several ancient pilgrimage routes, including Bangor-on-Dee and Holywell in north-east, and to Ynys Enlli /Bardsey island off the tip of the Llŷn peninsula. Ysbyty Ifan is now our largest agricultural estate.

Llŷn
The Llŷn Peninsula extends 30 miles into the Irish Sea from north west Wales, and was the last stopping point for pilgrims before crossing to Bardsey island. The tiny St Beuno’s Church in the village of Pistyll was founded in the sixth century, and was later a hospice for pilgrims travelling to Bardsey.

Red House
Red House is the iconic home commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, the artist and writer who was a key figure in the British Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris embraced the idea of a house that was "medieval in spirit" and the building is decorated with the artist’s interpretations of various facets of medieval life, including pilgrimage. The house itself is deliberately situated near Watling Way, an ancient pilgrimage route to Canterbury.