The Liverpool Pilgrim Way

Shrine of St Edmund Arrowsmith in Ashton-in-Makerfield

The Liverpool Pilgrim Way is a 30.1 mile long route from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool to the Shrines of Blessed Dominic Barberi in St Helens and St Edmund Arrowsmith in Ashton-in-Makerfield.

The Way passes the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in central Liverpool, before reaching the waterfront. The route follows the River Mersey, then crosses the site of the Festival Gardens to reach the Church of St Charles Borromeo, St Michael's Hamlet. The Way crosses Sefton Park and then Calderstones Botanic Garden to reach the Church of St Mary at Woolton.

The Way soon joins the Liverpool Loop Line path then crosses farmland by lane and track to reach the Church of St Bartholomew at Rainhill. The route traverses rewilded former collieries to the Shrine of Blessed Dominic Barberi in Sutton, St Helens. From there the path crosses town and country to the Shrine of St Edmund Arrowsmith at Ashton-in-Makerfield.

Blessed Dominic Barberi (1792-1849) was an Italian Passionist priest who played an important part in the re-emergence of Catholicism in England. He was beatified in 1963.

St Edmund Arrowsmith (1585-1628) was martyred for being a priest. He was canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty English Martyrs.