It will be no secret to anyone who has listened to my podcast, ‘The Rest Is History’, that I championed Athelstan as the greatest of England’s monarchs: a man who forged it as a united kingdom, mighty in battle, a scholar, a legislator, a man convinced that he had been divinely appointed to serve his people. As the Patron for the Athelstan Pilgrim Way, I’m also delighted to champion a walking route across his kingdom of Wessex that seeks to remind us of his Christian sensibility and the religious culture of his time.

Is it possible that we are often seduced by a heritage culture of celebrating our churches simply as interesting buildings? Perhaps we need to recognise a profound theme that percolated through the time of Athelstan and the places significant to him: that of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage, and with it an embodied prayer life – both of which we know Athelstan pursued – were an expression of that profoundly felt need for spiritual succour and direction. We’ve lost something of the language for it today, but I’m excited as Patron to support this modern day endeavour to rediscover the significance, resonance and timbre of pilgrimage. Across Wiltshire field and Fosse, may following in his footsteps become pilgrimage indeed.