New Camino honours women pivotal to Christianity in Kent
by Donna Birrell, Premier:
A new pilgrimage route highlighting the role of royal women in Kent who were crucial to the development of Christianity in England is being launched. The route, known as the Royal Kentish Camino connects churches in Canterbury, Lyminge, and Folkestone.
The start of the pilgrimage is at St Martin’s Church in Canterbury, and celebrates Bertha who prayed with St Augustine in her private chapel on the site, laying the foundation for the conversion of Kent to Christianity. Bertha was pivotal to her pagan husband King Ethelbert accepting Christianity and together they established the first Christian royal family in England.
Midway along the route is St Mary & St Ethelburga Church, Lyminge, where recent excavations uncovered the remains of a church, dated to the time of Queen Ethelburga, daughter of Bertha. These stone foundations are evidence for what is acknowledged as one of the first Christian communities in England. Ethelburga is celebrated for beginning, with her husband King Edwin, the conversion of the North of England to Christianity. She later returned to Kent to live at Lyminge after Edwin was killed in battle.
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