Thanks to the generosity of the Diocese of Nottingham, pilgrims who had stayed at The Briars Youth and Pastoral Centre in Crich (driven there by a Keralan Catholic taxi driver) awoke refreshed and ready to tackle Day 7 of the Pilgrimage: a 10 mile walk from Ripley to Eastwood. Others had stayed in Ripley, and all met up for an early breakfast. The Perpetual Pilgrims and some ‘Day Pilgrims’ who had travelled some distance, necessitating an overnight, have tried to meet for communal meals whenever possible.
Parish Priest Fr Neil had offered to celebrate a Mass and pilgrims were once again joined by parishioners – and Helen from the Matlock Parish, who was very kindly taking the heavier rucksacks on to the day’s destination in Nottinghamshire.
Mass for the optional Feast of the Holy Name of Mary came as a relief for some pilgrims for whom all the long days had merged into one and who, forgetting it was a Friday, had not only gaily breakfasted on a ‘full English’, but had even made a bacon sandwich to take for lunch!
After Mass, and the – now obligatory – group photo of pilgrims, parishioners and clergy, and with the sun shining brightly, the pilgrims had their Pilgrim Passports stamped, thanked their kind hosts in Ripley, and set forth on the penultimate stage of their journey!
Ripley’s long and varied industrial heritage spanned centuries, with one company lasting from 1790 through to 2009. Evidence of the area’s brick-manufacturing and reliance on mining and was in evidence as pilgrims progressed into the beautiful surrounding countryside.
Footpaths through field and forest followed the line of the railway as we pilgrims – accompanied by the calling of buzzards, the buzzing of (giant!) hornets, and the clattering of freight trains hauled by Class 66 diesel locomotives – crossed from Derbyshire into Nottinghamshire.
Upon regaining main roads through the suburbs and centre of Eastwood, pilgrims were met at the gate of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel with hearty applause and cheers from school staff and pupils, parishioners, and clergy. After a prayer and blessing from Parish Priest Fr Paul, we were served with tea, including home-baked bread and cake made by the Deputy Head Teacher of St John Houghton Catholic School – and extremely ‘more-ish’ star-shaped biscuits delicately flavoured with orange zest and baked by the Parish Priest himself!
The Church has the honour of being the Shrine of the Beauvale Martyrs and the mediaeval altar stone or ‘mensa’ in the Martyrs’ Chapel was brought to Our Lady of Good Counsel from Beauvale Priory in 1942.
The Martyrs are St John Houghton and St Robert Lawrence (Prior of the Carthusian Beauvale Abbey and presumably no relation to Eastwood’s famous literary son, DH Lawrence!) In the 1530s, the two men were amongst the first Carthusians to be hanged, drawn and quartered for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy acknowledging Henry VIII as Head of the Church.
As the St Mark’s Way pilgrims undertake the final stage of their journey tomorrow to St Barnabas’ Cathedral in Nottingham, they will join up the Ways of SS Matthew, Luke and John into the sign of the Cross: symbolically rededicating our country to the Catholic faith for which at least 300 martyrs in England and Wales were prepared to lay down their lives.
St John Houghton and St Robert Lawrence: pray for us
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