King's Lynn to Walsingham

Start: King's Lynn. Finish: Pentney or Narborough.

Distance: 13.5 miles

"Let me explain what I mean by calling this district a Holy Land. I mean that following the course of the Nar downwards, through all its windings for some twenty-five or thirty miles from Castleacre, there were at least nine religious houses, no one of which was five miles distant from the stream..."  Augustus Jessopp (Rector of Scarning), 1892, in 'Studies by a Recluse, in Cloister, Town, and Country'.

On the route immediately out of King's Lynn, the northern gate of Whitefriars is all that remains of a Carmelite friary. Founded about 1260 it was dissolved in 1538. Nearby streets - Carmelite Terrace, Whitefriars Road, Friars Street - all bear names associated with the site.

After crossing the River Nar, the route follows the waterway upstream. A glance at a modern map reveals a landscape peppered with ecclesiastical references: Priory Farm, Abbey Farm, Church Farm. Abbey Farm at Seeche Abbey may appear to be a good example; however, there is no evidence that there ever was an abbey in that area.

The site of Wormegay Priory, 500 metres south of the river, is now a Scheduled Monument. A moated enclosure once contained the major buildings of the site. The priory was a house founded in the late 12th century for Augustinian canons. Evidence suggests it was a small and relatively poorly endowed house, with probably no more than seven canons in residence. In 1468 it was united with the Pentney Abbey. It was finally dissolved in 1537.

Pentney Abbey was also founded as an Augustinian house, in 1135 by Robert De Vaux. His family had been granted land in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex for their involvement in the Norman Conquest. The abbey was dissolved following the Reformation in 1537. Stone from its buildings was reused in later structures, including the house and barns associated with the adjacent Abbey Farm. The grand 14th century gatehouse survives and is a popular venue for wedding ceremonies.

Continuing along the Nar Valley Way a short distance from Pentney Abbey, another footpath heads south toward Marham, the site of a former Cistercian nunnery. Founded in 1249 by Isabel, the widow of Hugh D'Albini, Marham Abbey was one of only two Cistercian abbeys founded for nuns in England. It would have housed between ten to fifteen nuns. The site, which is now on private land, is predominantly made up of grass-covered earthworks although a section of wall containing two circular windows has survived.

The first day ends in either Pentney or Narborough. Accommodation is available in either village. If you are staying overnight, it is worth exploring their respective churches: St. Mary Magdalene at Pentney (note the Victorian east window) and All Saints at Narborough (which contains some ostentatious monuments to members of the Spelman family).