'Royal Kentish Camino' recognises missionary women

Source: Lyminge Parish

A walk was launched at the end of April to highlight royal women who pioneered Christianity in Kent 14 centuries ago. The route connects churches in Canterbury, Lyminge and Folkestone.

The Royal Kentish Camino is a themed walking route that has been developed as a joint initiative by the churches of St Martin in Canterbury, St Mary & St Ethelburga in Lyminge and St Mary & St Eanswythe in Folkestone. It celebrates the achievements of three powerful women from successive generations of the Kentish Royal Family in the 6th and 7th Centuries AD. This was a foundational time in the creation of England as a nation state. The route ends at the shrine of a saint whose relics are still preserved and venerated in the church she founded almost 1,400 years ago.

The route of just over 23 miles (37.7km) begins at the church of St Martin in Canterbury, part of the World Heritage Site that also contains Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey. It is the oldest church in the English-speaking world, used before the end of the 6th Century by Queen Bertha, who is thought to have encouraged her husband King Aethelberht to invite the Pope to send the Christian mission that led to the conversion of England. She is thought to have prayed with Saint Augustine in a chapel on the site. With her husband, they established the first Christian royal family in England.

St Mary & St Ethelburga Church, Lyminge, contains remains of a church dated to the time of Queen Ethelburga, daughter of Bertha. She and her husband King Edwin were involved in the conversion of Northern England to Christianity. After his death, she returned to Kent to live at Lyminge. Ethelburga founded a church in the 630s, that was re-excavated and studied in detail in 2019.

From Lyminge, the route climbs up onto the ridge of the North Downs and passes the ancient church at Paddlesworth. This is dedicated to St Oswald, one of the first English saints, and may have been founded by Ethelburga's daughter Eanflæd. Having reached the coast above Folkestone, walkers descend the cliff to the harbour, and then climb the opposite cliff where Bertha's granddaughter Eanswythe founded the first church in Folkestone around 660. Her bones have been preserved there ever since.

Link: www.lymingeparishcouncil.org.uk/Royal_Kentish_Camino_47654.aspx