Directory
Relics of the saints of the undivided Church, relics of the Lord’s Passion and of the Mother of God, ancient monasteries — including those now kept in Catholic and Anglican churches. Choose a country.
Check access arrangements on the church’s website before travelling.
Walsingham
The principal Marian shrine of England (since 1061). A pan-Orthodox chapel functions there; the annual Orthodox pilgrimage takes place in September.
Canterbury
The place where Anglo-Saxon Christianity began in 597; the foundations of the first churches and the burials of the first archbishops of Canterbury survive.
Durham
The tomb of Saint Cuthbert († 687) is behind the high altar; that of Saint Bede the Venerable († 735) is in the Galilee Chapel. The cathedral is open daily.
St Albans
The first martyr of Britain (3rd–4th century). The restored shrine stands in the eastern part of the cathedral; once a year an Orthodox divine liturgy is celebrated there.
London
King of England († 1066), canonised by Rome in 1161; many Orthodox in Britain venerate him as one of the last saints of pre-schism England. The tomb is behind the high altar; access to the saint’s chapel is restricted and veneration is possible only on certain days.
Iona
The monastery founded by Saint Columba in 563 is the cradle of Christianity in Scotland. The ancient crosses and the restored abbey survive.
Birmingham
In the Catholic Cathedral of St Chad, a reliquary above the high altar holds the relics of Saint Chad († 672), rescued from Lichfield Cathedral when it was despoiled in 1538. Radiocarbon dating in 1985 placed almost all the bones in the 7th century.
Bradwell-on-Sea
The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall was built by Saint Cedd around 654 from the stones of a Roman fort, one of the oldest surviving churches in England. Annual pilgrimage on the first Saturday of July; the chapel is open to visitors.
Bury St Edmunds
Ruins of the abbey that grew up around the tomb of Saint Edmund, King of East Anglia, killed by the pagan Danes in 869; until the Reformation his shrine was one of England’s great sanctuaries. The fate of the relics is unknown; nearby, in St Mary’s Church, an Orthodox parish of Saint Edmund holds services.
Canterbury
A church built before 597, where the Christian Queen Bertha prayed and from which Saint Augustine of Canterbury began his mission. It is the oldest church in the English-speaking world still in use for worship.
Chester
Saint Werburgh († c. 700), Mercian princess and abbess, is the patroness of Chester; the cathedral grew out of the abbey that held her relics. The 14th-century stone shrine, dismantled in 1538, was reassembled from fragments in 1888 and stands in the Lady Chapel.
Crowland
On a former island in the Fens, the hermit Saint Guthlac lived from 699 to 714, and a monastery grew up on the site of his cell. Impressive abbey ruins remain; the north aisle serves as the parish church.
Dorchester-on-Thames
Saint Birinus († c. 650), Apostle of Wessex, baptised King Cynegils here in 635 and established his bishop’s see. His medieval shrine, a place of pilgrimage, was destroyed in 1536; the abbey church keeps his memory.
Downpatrick
On the hill of Down Cathedral, according to tradition, lies Saint Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland († c. 461); the spot is marked by a granite stone (1900). Tradition also places the graves of Saint Brigid and Saint Columba here. Nearby is Saul, where the saint founded his first church.
Ely
Saint Etheldreda (Audrey, † 679), queen and abbess, founded a monastery here in 673; her incorrupt body drew pilgrims until the Reformation. The site of her shrine is marked by a stone in the cathedral presbytery, and a relic (the saint’s hand) is kept in the nearby Catholic church of St Etheldreda.
Folkestone
Saint Eanswythe († c. 640), granddaughter of King Æthelberht of Kent, founded one of the first convents in England. Her relics, found in the church wall in 1885, were dated in 2020 to the mid-7th century; in 2024 they were returned in a new reliquary to a niche near the altar.
Glasgow
The cathedral stands over the burial place of Saint Kentigern († 614), Enlightener of Strathclyde and patron of Glasgow; his tomb was a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. It lies at the centre of the cathedral’s Lower Church.
Glastonbury
Ruins of one of the oldest monasteries in England, linked with traditions about the beginnings of Christianity in Britain; Saint Dunstan was its abbot in the 10th century. A place of annual pilgrimages, where services of several traditions, Orthodox among them, are held.
Hexham
The abbey was founded by Saint Wilfrid († 709) in the 670s; beneath the church his 7th-century crypt, built of Roman stones to hold relics, survives intact. The church also keeps a stone bishop’s throne of the same period.
Holywell
Holy well at the place of the martyrdom of Saint Winefride (Gwenfrewi, 7th century), raised to life, according to tradition, by Saint Beuno. A place of unbroken pilgrimage since the Middle Ages, even through the Reformation; the chapel keeps a relic of the saint, and bathing in the well pool is possible at set times.
Jarrow
St Paul’s Church, Jarrow, was part of the monastery of Wearmouth–Jarrow, where Saint Bede († 735) spent almost all his life. It keeps its 7th-century core and the dedication stone of 685; the sister house is St Peter’s Church, Monkwearmouth (Sunderland).
Lastingham
The monastery at Lastingham was founded by Saint Cedd, Apostle of the East Saxons; he died here in 664 and was buried by the altar, and his brother Saint Chad succeeded him as abbot. The complete Norman crypt of St Mary’s Church was built over his burial place.
Lichfield
The cathedral stands over the grave of Saint Chad († 672), Bishop of the Mercians and disciple of Saint Aidan. In 2022 a relic of the saint from Birmingham was placed in a new shrine behind the high altar; the cathedral also keeps the St Chad Gospels (8th century) and the “Lichfield Angel”, part of the saint’s early shrine-chest.
Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
Holy Island of Lindisfarne, where Saint Aidan founded in 635 the monastery from which Northumbria was evangelised; Saint Cuthbert († 687) lived here and was first buried here. The priory ruins remain, together with the parish church on the site of Saint Aidan’s church. The island is reached by a causeway only at low tide — check the tide tables.
London
The 13th-century chapel of the London residence of the Bishops of Ely, now a Catholic church. A reliquary by the altar keeps a relic of Saint Etheldreda (Audrey, † 679) — part of the same hand, another portion of which is at Ely.
Oxford
The cathedral grew out of the monastery founded by Saint Frideswide († c. 727), patroness of Oxford; her relics, translated in 1180, drew pilgrims until the 16th century. The medieval shrine, reconstructed from its fragments, stands in the cathedral’s Latin Chapel.
Pennant Melangell
A secluded church in the Tanat valley on the site where the hermit Saint Melangell (7th century), protector of hares and of all the hunted, lived. The 12th-century Romanesque shrine made for her relics has been rebuilt from its fragments and stands in the chancel; nearby is the site of her original grave. Narrow road from Llangynog.
Ripon
Beneath the cathedral survives the crypt of the basilica built by Saint Wilfrid in 672, one of the oldest Christian structures in England. The saint was buried in his church at Ripon; the crypt is open to visitors.
St Davids
The cathedral stands on the site of the monastery of Saint David († c. 589), patron of Wales; in the Middle Ages two pilgrimages here were counted as one to Rome. The saint’s medieval shrine, despoiled in 1538, was restored in 2012 and adorned with icons.
St Davids
According to tradition, Saint David of Wales was born on this clifftop above the sea; here are the ruins of the ancient chapel of Saint Non, his mother, and a venerated holy well. Free entry; about a mile south of St Davids.
Tolleshunt Knights
Stavropegic monastery of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, founded in 1959 by Elder Sophrony, disciple of Saint Silouan the Athonite. Saint Sophrony († 1993), glorified in 2019, rests at the monastery, where a church in his honour was consecrated in 2025 in the presence of Patriarch Bartholomew. Pilgrims are advised to contact the monastery beforehand.
Whitby
Abbey ruins on the site of the monastery founded in 657 and ruled by Saint Hilda († 680); Saint Caedmon, the first English Christian poet, lived here, and the Synod of Whitby met here in 664. Managed by English Heritage (admission charge).
Whitchurch Canonicorum
A Dorset village church keeps a 13th-century shrine with the relics of Saint Wite (Candida): when it was opened in 1900, it held a lead casket inscribed “Here rest the relics of Saint Wite”. One of the very few English shrines to survive the Reformation with its relics; pilgrims still leave written prayers in its openings.
Whithorn
Whithorn is the cradle of Christianity in Scotland: here Saint Ninian (5th century) founded the “White House” (Candida Casa), and his tomb drew pilgrims, Scottish kings among them, for centuries. Priory ruins, crypt and museum of early crosses; St Ninian’s Cave lies on the shore 5 km away.
Winchester
Saint Swithun († 862), Bishop of Winchester, was one of the most venerated saints of medieval England; his shrine, destroyed in 1538, stood in the cathedral dedicated to him. Its site in the retrochoir is marked by a memorial shrine; Winchester has an Orthodox parish dedicated to the saint.
Edinburgh
The Catholic Cathedral of St Mary holds the national shrine of the Apostle Andrew, patron of Scotland: part of his shoulder, given by Amalfi in 1879, and a further relic presented in 1969. They are kept in the shrine chapel at the end of the south aisle, beneath an Orthodox icon of the apostle (2004).
Bardsey Island
Bardsey Island (Ynys Enlli), where Saint Cadfan founded a monastery in the early 6th century; tradition holds that twenty thousand saints are buried here, and three pilgrimages to the island equalled one to Rome. The abbey ruins remain; boats run from Porth Meudwy (Aberdaron) from April to October, weather permitting.
