horpe on the way to Norwich are the scant ruins of the
priory of Walsingham. In its palmy days this was one of the richest in
the world, and it is said that it was visited by more pilgrims than was
the shrine of Becket at Canterbury. In every instance a gift was
expected from the visitor, and as a consequence the monks fared
sumptuously. Among these pilgrims were many of the nobility and even
kings, including Henry VIII, who, after visiting the priory as a votary
in the early part of his reign, ordered its complete destruction in
1539. This order was evidently carried out, for only shattered fragments
of the ruins remain to show how splendid the buildings must once have
been.
Walsingham is an unusually quaint little village, with a wonderful,
ancient town pump of prodigious height and a curious church with a tall
spire bent several degrees from the perpendicular. Near the priory are
two springs, styled Wishing Wells, which were believed to have
miraculous power, the legend being that they sprang into existence at
the command of the Virgin. This illustrates one of the queer and not
unpleasing features of motoring in England. In almost every
out-of-the-way village, no matter how remote or small and how seldom
visited by tourists, one runs across no end of quaint landmarks and
historic spots with accompanying incidents and legends. Twenty miles
more through a beautiful country brought us in sight of the cathedral
spire of Norwich. This city has a population of about one hundred and
twenty thousand and there is a unique charm in its blending of the
mediaeval and modern. It is a progressive city with large business and
manufacturing interests, but these have not swept away the charm of the
old-time town. The cathedral is one of the most imposing in England,
being mainly of Norman architecture and surmounted by a graceful spire
more than three hundred feet in height. Norwich also presents the
spectacle of a modern cathedral in course of building, a thing that we
did not see elsewhere in England. The Roman Catholic Church is
especially strong in this section, and under the leadership of the Duke
of Norfolk has undertaken to build a structure that will rival in size
and splendor those of the olden time. No doubt the modern Catholics bear
in mind that their ancestors built all the great English churches and
cathedrals and that these were lost to them at the time of the
so-called Reformation of Henry VIII. Religious toleration d
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