I write about medieval Gower history, but I haven’t said much about the churches. However, I just stumbled upon the Gower Pilgrimage Way. It is a 50 mile route visiting the many churches of Gower. Some were built long before the medieval time, but they were in use during that time, and most of them are still standing.
Gower was the first area of the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the peninsula is a wonderful place for walking. May 21st 2022 saw the official opening of the 50-mile long Gower Pilgrimage Way, linking all 17 historic churches in Gower, and including several chapels and other Christian sacred sites along the way. It runs from Penclawdd in the north-east, around the peninsula, finishing at St Teilo’s in Bishopston in the south-east.
In his introduction, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon says:
The reasons for setting out on pilgrimage are as varied as the stories we read. Nothing has changed that, somewhere within all of us there is the pilgrim wanting to see more, experience more, grow more.
On the Gower Pilgrimage way, you will be invited to journey along the highways and byways, enter the churches and buildings made sacred by centuries of prayer, first offered by the early Celtic saints who took the commission of Jesus seriously: “To go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
But whatever your own reason to begin this pilgrimage, whether you are a person of faith or none, I think one thing we can agree upon is that to journey is to change.
So my prayer for you is that you will be changed by this journey, enriched by all you experience and that you will be all the better for daring to step out and so discover the pilgrim within.
There is a useful guide which splits the route into 5 sections, so you can walk it in 5 days, or you can cycle or drive to visit the churches. Like in the original pilgrimages, each church has a stamp to add to your passbook. Visit the website to find out more.
Ann Marie Thomas is the author of five medieval history books, a surprisingly cheerful poetry collection about her 2010 stroke, and the science fiction series Flight of the Kestrel, Intruders, Alien Secrets & Crisis of Conscience are out now Follow her at http://eepurl.com/bbOsyz