Whalley Pilgrimage

I set off before 6.30 am on my walk to Whalley.  It was beautiful both in the dark and later by daylight.  The half moon reflected off the canal; no need for a torch.

The church at Whalley was open when I arrived soon after 2pm and after borrowing a match I lit a candle in the Lady Chapel.

'. . . the soule of Margaret Nowell. . .'

Tomorrow I am setting out to walk, in a spirit of pilgrimage, the sixteen or so miles to Whalley.  The church there having been a place of prayer for the Nowell family at least since 1500.

There is an obit in the Cuerden Psalter's kalendar for December 10th; "Praye for the soule of Margaret Nowell whose body departyd the secunde sondaye of advent in the XXVIII yere of Henry VIII" (10th Dec 1536).

Sadly church records of deaths began two years later.  However there is mention of a Margaret Nowell, daughter of John Nowell of Read, marrying in 1530.  She was sister to Alexander Nowell (Dean of St Paul's), Laurence Nowell - and at least ten other siblings.