The Iconic Photographs
The Shrine’s early image collection is not as extensive as we would have liked it to be:
it relies heavily on the photographs taken by Fr Patten and by a few others associated
with the early days of the Restoration. As a result, some pictures have been
reproduced so often over time that they have come to be called ‘iconic’. Each of them,
like a true icon, is a symbol of something more: it conveys an aspect of the Shrine’s
Restoration history, instantly recognisable beyond the image portrayed. These pictures
will all be seen in their contexts elsewhere on this website.
Some pictures are still in copyright, including Enid Chadwick’s map.
Fr Alfred Hope Patten
Restorer of the Shrine
Master of the Guardians.
Two Sisters walking down Holt Road
in the 1930s, passing where is now
the Welcome Centre.
Enid Chadwick painting
in the Shrine (an earlier
St Augustine’s Chapel).
Sir William Milner, holding a candle, in the
Translation Procession on October 15th 1931:
a larger version of this picture is here.
Boy Scouts heading the procession from the
parish church to the Opening and Blessing of
the new Shrine Church on June 6th 1938.
The first Catholic League pilgrimage 1923.
1931 Fr Patten surveying the Holy House building
works just after the well was uncovered.
On the right the Calvary, erected at the same time: it
stood there until 2019, when the wood had to be
replaced. Holding crosses made from some of the old
wood are on sale in the Shrine Shop.
The matron and children from
the St Hilary orphanage in
Cornwall after their arrival in
Walsingham in 1939.
August 11th 1958
The last-known photograph
of Fr Patten. After giving
Benediction he carried the Blessed Sacrament back up the stairs to the
chapel in the gallery, deposited it in the Tabernacle, and then collapsed
into the arms of his servers, Stanley Smith and Brian Robinson. He
was helped to his cottage, and Dr Little soon attended, and prescribed
rest. Shortly after the doctor’s departure Fr Patten collapsed again,
and died. His funeral took place two days later.
Looking up Holt Road in
the 1930s, with Stella
Maris Hospice [now Stella
Maris House] on the
right; the upper part can
be seen in more detail in
the picture of the Sisters
at the top of this page.
