02/12/2023
The Slipper chapel at Houghton St Giles. The west front reconstructed to how the original master mason likely intended in the middle of the fourteenth century. It was built as a wayside chapel on the way to the shrine at Walsingham, and would have been one of the final stopping places before reaching the town of Walsingham itself. The name – the ‘Slipper Chapel’ – is entirely modern, dating back no further than the 1890s, and referring to the modern tradition that it was here that pilgrims removed their shoes to walk the last ‘holy mile’ to Walsingham barefoot. King Henry VIII did indeed walk barefoot to Walsingham, but that was from the village of East Barsham – meaning that he probably didn’t even walk past the chapel. However, things get conflated with history, and one story leads to another… until it is published in several respectable history books that it was from this chapel that Henry undertook his barefoot pilgrimage.
The chapel was originally dedicated to St Catherine, and in the early sixteenth century was home to a hermit. Beyond that we can say very little about its history. It wasn’t directly associated with the priory or friary in Walsingham, and nor was it built by the monastic house at Horsham St Faiths, who owned the living of the church in the parish. Indeed, beyond knowing that it was the work of the ‘Walsingham architect’, who worked on several other local churches, we don’t know who commissioned it, or who had oversight of it. It’s a bit of a mystery.
As you’ll see from the photos and prints, by the early nineteenth century it was in a bit of a state, being used as a barn, a cow byre, and even a cottage at one time or another. It was then purchased in the 1890s by Charlotte Boyd – a catholic convert – who oversaw the restoration. It has been suggested that the restoration was a bit heavy handed, and that they over elaborated the decoration. However, an analysis of the surviving medieval stonework rather suggests that the restoration was pretty true to the original. It really is one of the finest examples of mid-fourteenth century architecture in England – but on a tiny scale. Today it forms the centrepiece for the national Roman Catholic shrine – and I have the honour of having archaeological oversight of the building on behalf of the diocese.
