Major Pilgrimage Centres
See Britannia.com for a list. In the Middle Ages, every major church had to have a shrine to be credible. These were often of the church founder; in England these were mainly Anglo-Saxon/English though in some cases go back to older British traditions. The following were the most important shrines; see route pages for more details on the individual sites.
- Scotland
- St Andrews; formerly most important pilgrimage centre in Scotland, now worships the lord god of golf
- Whithorn, St Ninian; can claim to be oldest Christian centre in Scotland
- Iona; where St Columba set up first Irish mission in Scotland
- Glasgow, St Kentigern or Mungo
- Dunfermline, St Margaret; nearby, the Queen's Ferry across the Forth (now replaced by a bridge) was initiated by Margaret to assist pilgrims to St Andrews
- Wales
- St Davids; most important pilgrimage in Wales
- Holywell: well of St Winefride
- Bardsey Island
- England
- British
- St Albans: abbey, now cathedral: shrine of 1st known British martyr
- Glastonbury: supposedly founded by Joseph of Arimethea
- Bodmin: St Petroc
- St Michael's Mount
- Whitchurch Canonicorum: St Wite
- Cathedrals/minsters
- Canterbury: first Augustine, then Thomas à Beckett, especially well-known due to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
- N England: Durham (St Cuthbert), Ripon (St Wilfred), York (St William), Beverley (St John)
- Midlands: Lincoln (St Hugh), Lichfield (St Chad; see also well), Ely (St Etheldreda), Norwich (St Julian), Worcester (St Oswald, St Wulfstan), Gloucester (Edward II), Hereford (St Ethelbert, St Thomas Cantilupe)
- S England: Winchester (St Swithun), Salisbury (St Osmund), Malmesbury (St Aldhelm, in whose works (early C8) is the first reference to St James evangelising in Spain)
- Others
- Walsingham: Our Lady, from C12; the Red Mount Chapel in King's Lynn was built to accommodate pilgrims to Walsingham
- Hailes: phial of Holy Blood, from C13
- Bromholm: part of Holy Rood
- Shaftesbury: Edward the Martyr, in the abbey church
- Lindisfarne/Holy Island: St Aidan; C12 Benedictine priory; access to island still called Pilgrims Way
- British
