Walsingham Abbey & The Shirehall Museum

22/05/2026

Walk the Walsingham Way from King’s Lynn

01/05/2026

A further update from the Walsingham Estate on the works to the Guild House in Bridewell Street.

The scaffold will soon be removed. The last of the reinforcement works remains to be completed at the lower levels. A mild soot wash to soften the colour of the new lime mortars will be applied. Bridewell Street is scheduled to reopen by Friday 8th May.

Shows the recently repaired weaver's window, with knapped flint gallets and lime mortar pointing below the window, the pointing brought to the face of flintwork as it was likely to have been constructed originally, the lime mortar had been eroded by weather and vibration leading to its current recessed appearance in turn leading to flints becoming loose and falling out in various locations.

24/04/2026

It’s always sad to see a big old tree fall. This beech was felled by one of the recent big winds. It had two trunks and a full crown so was perhaps a bit top heavy.

Fortunately this happened out of hours, and the tree also came down conveniently alongside rather than across the path!

As it’s too difficult to extricate the tree from the Dell, we asked .addison to come and cut out some seats. Hope you agree these will be a nice place to sit and enjoy the quiet greenery in the woodland.

16/04/2026

Big tree safety works today on the cedar on the corner of the main lawn near the refectory ruins. It is around 200 years old, and unfortunately it is suffering from old age with the potential to shed branches. Some specimens of cedar can live for many hundreds of years without deteriorating, but sadly ours is not one of those. It’s a pity to see it lose branches but obviously It would be a disaster if anything fell on either a person or the ancient masonry.

Cedars were introduced to Britain and became popular from around the 17th century. They were planted in many a landscaped park including those designed by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton and have become a familiar feature in the English landscape.

Ours could have been planted at the suggestion of John Haverfield, who laid out the grounds here around the ruins in the early 1800s.

In several religions, these magnificent trees are referred to as ‘trees of God’. Tradition has it that the Temple of Solomon was built from cedar.

15/04/2026

Update on the repair works to the Grade II* listed Guild House in Bridewell Street, which is necessitating the road closure.

Unfortunately the start of works was delayed due to waiting for listed building consent to be granted by NNDC's conservation officers.

Our best guess at present and weather permitting, is that there will be 2-3 more weeks of masonry repairs with the scaffold being removed during the week of 27th April.

The photos show the careful work, using traditional skills and materials, that is being undertaken.

30/03/2026

The Ecumenical Blessing of Palms yesterday here in the Abbey Grounds

20/03/2026

Twenty pictures, twenty different daffs, just some of the varieties planted here over many decades. You’ll see many sizes and shades from strong plain yellow to white.

We are just about at peak daff, so a lovely time to visit for a spring walk.

Opening hours are 11-4 Friday to Monday in March.

01/03/2026

1st March is St David’s day. Sadly the snowdrops are more or less done for this year although you will still see a few clumps where it’s cooler and darker.

Meanwhile the daffodils are really starting to get going which is perfect for today! Plus there’s a chance of a little sunshine!

Open today 10-4
Then from this Friday 5th we are open Friday-Monday 11-4

27/02/2026

SNOWDROPS FOR TAPPING HOUSE UPDATE

We are celebrating a record-breaking Charity Snowdrop Day, on Valentine’s Day Saturday 14th February, in support of Tapping House.

This year’s Charity Snowdrop Day was our absolutely best ever! We welcomed more visitors on one day than ever before, 1,400 visitors, and together with the fundraising teas and tombola in the parish hall organised by Tapping’s wonderful volunteers and staff, we raised just over £12,000 for the hospice.

The singing of topical songs for Valentine’s by Your Choir was a great addition to the day.
So if you struggled a bit to find a parking spot in Walsingham on the day, that’s why! All in all very good cause!

It costs £6.8 million a year, over £500,000 every month, to deliver Tapping House’s services. With less than a quarter of the funding coming from government sources, the charity relies heavily on the kindness and generosity of supporters. Thanks to the incredible support of the community and partners, Tapping House can continue to provide outstanding, compassionate care, where no-one faces life’s most difficult moments alone.

22/10/2025

Hope everyone is having a lovely half term if they’ve started already, or are looking forward to it next week.

Unfortunately we are having to close tomorrow, on Thursday 23rd October, owing to the weather warning for high winds (gusting up to 57mph here eek!) as well as heavy rain (which doesn’t in itself prevent us from opening).

We will be opening as usual on Friday 24th, opening hours are 11am-4pm every day until Sunday 2nd November.

There’s lots of lovely autumn colour among the trees, the leaves are definitely starting to fall and there are plenty of sticks to pick up and masses of acorns, beechnuts and conkers.