Celtic Pilgrimage, A

By Anne Hayward

This book is based on a pilgrimage Anne Hayward made on foot from Wales to Brittany in 2016. As with her previous book, A Pilgrimage Around Wales, her writing is aimed at people interested in Christian spirituality and pilgrimage, but also focuses on the church history (in the broadest sense) she discovered and reflected on as she walked.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Y Lolfa
• Release date: Oct 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781784619404

Book preview

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‘Anne Hayward brings alive the very real connections between the ancient Celtic lands as she experiences their historic, Christian sights.  Her book is certain to encourage others to follow in her steps and to feel the same resonances for themselves.’

Lister Tonge

Dean of St Woolos’ Cathedral, Newport

‘Anne Hayward has brought together her background as a historian and her Christian vocation as a prayer pilgrim to lead us on a journey in the footsteps of the Celtic saints who planted communities of prayer, many of which survive to this day, in the western fringes of the British Isles and France. The centuries before the Norman conquest of England were known as the Dark Ages, but on the Celtic fringe they were called the Age of the Saints and Anne discovers ample evidence that contemporary saints in communities large and small continue to offer hospitality, care and prayer following the pattern of their ancestors in the faith.’

Ven. Chris Potter

Former Dean and Archdeacon of St Asaph

Author of North Wales Pilgrim’s Way:

the official guide to the Welsh Camino

‘Anne’s commitment in undertaking such a long pilgrimage is impressive and we were pleased to welcome her at the Moravian Church in Brockweir. As Anne explains, the Moravian Church is a place where all are welcome, bringing together the whole village and serving a diverse community. A Celtic Pilgrimage helps us to see the inter-connectedness of our world, where meeting people and experiencing different denominations brings us closer and draws us into a greater unity.’

Revd Patsy Holdsworth

Moravian Minister serving the British Province

A Celtic

Pilgrimage

A walk from Wales to Brittany

through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall

Anne Hayward

To my father, David Roy Backhouse

First impression: 2020

© Copyright Anne Hayward and Y Lolfa Cyf., 2020

The contents of this book are subject to copyright, and may not be reproduced by any means, mechanical or electronic, without the prior, written consent of the publishers.

Cover photograph: Getty Images

Cover design: Y Lolfa

ISBN: 978-1-78461-940-4

Published and printed in Wales

on paper from well-maintained forests by

Y Lolfa Cyf., Talybont, Ceredigion SY24 5HE

website www.ylolfa.com

e-mail [e-mail]

tel [phone]

fax 832 782

Foreword

by the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen,

Bishop of Truro

There’s a view of the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ that sees them as a time of ignorance and backwardness, after the glories of the Roman Empire, with small tribes fighting local wars over their own local patch of mud. The truth in many ways could hardly have been more different.

The world of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries was in fact much more connected than that. For us in Cornwall, trading in tin continued across much of the known world. And other even more significant connections were being made too, as Celtic saints, many from Ireland, travelled far and wide – sometimes simply allowing themselves to be led by the winds and the tides – sharing the good news of God’s love made known in Jesus Christ across the Celtic lands of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, and further afield too.

Anne Hayward’s engaging journey, described for us in this little book, is a journey in the footsteps of those Celtic saints, and follows them in spirit too. It’s a journey of discovery as Anne discovers places all too easily hidden and missed by trunk roads and bypasses: the kind of places you can only really reach on foot.

It’s a journey of encounter too, as she meets many people, often only for a short time, but with whom she experiences a real depth of connection.

It’s a journey of pilgrimage: this is walking with a purpose. It’s not so much that she always has a destination in mind, but rather that she wants to discover what God might be doing in the places and people she comes across.

And it’s a journey of prayer too: prayer in pilgrimage is perhaps the keynote of the book. It’s not only Anne who prays, but she frequently prays with those she meets too.

Pilgrimage and prayer are surely ideas whose time have come again. Today we need to learn afresh that our hyper-connected, hyper-tech world has not arrived at all: it is heading in a dangerous direction, but there is nonetheless a better path to choose. Today we need to learn afresh that we are not self-sufficient, and do not have all the answers, but need to depend again on the God who loves us.

May this little book help us all choose that better, more trusting, more hopeful path.

+Philip Truro

St Piran’s Day, 2020

Preface

I was very blessed to be able to take time out from ordinary life in the spring, summer and autumn of 2016, spending almost four months as a pilgrim. I walked from my home in south Wales, aiming for the some of the ancient Christian sites of Brittany, and then made my way back again.

The year before, in 2015, I had walked around Wales on a pilgrimage and had a wonderful time. Now I looked forward to a new adventure as I journeyed south and west.

This book is the fruit of that pilgrimage. In writing, by far the biggest challenge I have faced is organising the very considerable amount of material that I built up as I walked. This has included not only my own diaries and notes made en route, but also the hundreds of photos that I took and the informative leaflets and so on that I acquired. The research I did both before and after my journey has also added to what I had to draw on.

To bring some sort of order and coherence to the material I gathered, I have adopted a pattern whereby each chapter deals with about one week’s worth of walking, with the start and end point stated in the chapter heading.

The first part of each chapter then sets out and discusses three or four themes which were especially significant in that section of my pilgrimage. These themes cover a wide variety of topics, everything from the issues that I faced as a walker, to significant moments in church history and to features of the landscape that I was passing through at that time. There is then another section in each chapter where I use a highly edited (you may be glad to hear this!) few sentences from the diary I wrote each day. I then expound on this brief extract, sometimes using what I saw or experienced as an example of one of the themes discussed in the opening part of the chapter.

Needless to say, amongst the many and varied resources I had to draw on, the greatest were my own memories of the many people I met along the way whose lives, hopes and prayers I was privileged to share for a just a very short time. As I walked I visited a great number and variety of places in some quite busy areas, so these meetings became a considerable feature of my pilgrimage.

However, it would of course be quite inappropriate for me to allow you to eavesdrop on what were often very private conversations. Although I have on several occasions referred to what was said or prayers that were uttered, it is always in a general way to respect the confidence of those involved. Above all, I would hope that, as you walk with me, you will remember that my pilgrimage took place in this very human context and I would like to offer my thanks to those whom I met along the way for the brief privilege of their company.

Faced, and indeed challenged, with all this varied material available to me, I decided that this book should focus on the church history that I discovered as I walked. My book is, quite literally, a walk through the history of the Christian church from ancient times to the present day. Although it is based in the fascinating areas through which I walked, I have added relevant discussion of the wider context of the story of the church of Wales, England and Brittany and occasionally further afield.

I would make no secret of the fact that I consider that story to be a great, under-appreciated resource, not only for contemporary Christians but also those who would place themselves outside the faith or, indeed, in another faith tradition.

I am also aware that some people may be unfamiliar with the areas through which I walked, so some of the places mentioned are included on the map provided. Where this was not practical due to the constraints of space, I have tried to make sure that all the towns and villages referred to are placed in the context of those places that are on the map.

Another consideration for me in writing this book was the issue of language in the shape of Welsh, Cornish and Breton. I was aware as I walked that I was in areas where language has been, and remains, a divisive political and cultural issue.

However, in walking and then writing, it has been the language of place-names that has been of particular significance to me in consideration of what are the historic, if now minority, languages of Welsh, Cornish and Breton. So, in my text I have adopted the format whereby when writing about places in Wales and Cornwall, I use the place-name as it is in English, but with the Welsh or Cornish form of the name following in brackets when it is first mentioned. I think this approach reflects the perhaps surprisingly widespread use of Welsh, even in the relatively Anglicized areas that I passed through on my pilgrimage, and also the considerable revival of Cornish in recent decades. It is also an indication of the legal requirement in Wales for official documents and so on to be available in Welsh and the increasing use of Cornish in similar contexts.

As regards Brittany, I have followed the same approach, with the place-name in French followed by the Breton equivalent in brackets.

Related to this issue of language is the variation in the spelling of the names of early Christian saints which has led to different forms of the same name in Wales, Cornwall (and more widely in the west of England) and Brittany. On this I have tried to follow the practice of using the form of the name such as is usual in the area or country that I was in at the time, but with some names I have added an endnote to give the alternatives that are used for the same person elsewhere.

Of course, it is these names and their varied forms in Breton, Welsh and Cornish that are the clue to my overall purpose and interest in walking and then in writing. My book is, above all, about a Celtic pilgrimage where I had the chance to explore the fascinating connections between the areas through which I walked, drawn together as they are across the English and Bristol Channels and the Celtic Sea.

The Breton, Welsh and Cornish languages form the southern group of the family of Celtic languages, but the considerable linguistic similarities between them are just one factor in a notable shared heritage. This in itself can be traced back to the peoples who were the ancient inhabitants of these lands going back to the days before the Roman Empire. Their culture has survived, and indeed developed and flourished, in what is still a changing and evolving situation for these areas of the Celtic fringe of Europe in the wider context of politics and culture in France and the United Kingdom.

I am also aware that I have used quite a lot of historical terms in my writing and that these may not be familiar to some readers. My book spans the period from the later Roman Empire to the present day. Perhaps key events, dates and historical terms to bear in mind would include the end of Roman rule (in the areas through which I walked, in about 400) and also the coming of the Normans to England and then to Wales in the eleventh century. Another significant milestone would be the religious changes of the sixteenth century, usually known as the Reformation.

As this book also clearly involves some French history, it’s also important to be aware of the French Revolution of the late eighteenth century and the huge social, political and religious upheaval that ensued. There is also considerable discussion of the Great War of 1914 to 1918.

However, this brief explanation of historical terms, key events and dates only provides the broadest of outlines to the background of my walking and writing. Please be assured that I have tried to explain whatever else I feel is necessary as I go along. This particularly applies to my use of terminology often specific to church history and the architecture of churches.

Please also note that all dates given are ad or, in more contemporary usage, ce.

Anne Hayward

March 2020

https://pilgrimstreet.uk/

1 – From home in south Wales to the big city of Bristol

Meeting church leaders – Rood screens in medieval churches – The Moravian Church – The very early centuries of Christianity in Britain – The beginnings of the Mothers’ Union in Victorian England

As I set out on what was to be my second long-distance pilgrimage, I remarked to myself how wonderful it was to be back on the road. The previous year I’d walked around Wales, devising my own route from my home in south Wales and taking three months to walk around this small but fascinating country. I’d connected ancient places of Christian pilgrimage as well as lots of other sites of particular interest and generally had an amazing time.

What was most memorable, though, were the conversations I had along the way. One of these had included the question ‘How will you stop this time becoming just a distant memory?’

Looking back on this moment, I remember that I was rather taken