Friends of St Mary's Speaker Series 2025 - March’s Talk will be given by Catherine Clark on 18th March.

Medieval Pilgrimage and Devotion: St Thomas of Hereford and the Hanged Man.

In 1290, in Swansea, a Welsh outlaw, William Cragh, was hanged by the local Anglo-Norman lord. But that wasn’t the end of the story: Cragh came back to life, in what was understood by local people as a miracle of the new saint, St Thomas of Hereford. After Cragh’s recovery, he went on pilgrimage to Hereford to give thanks at the saint’s shrine.

William Cragh’s pilgrimage formed the inspiration for the St Thomas Way – a new pilgrim route from Swansea to Hereford – and his story offers remarkable insights into medieval beliefs and devotional practices. Bending a penny, measuring to the saint, living images and visions… What can these practices tell us about Christianity in medieval Wales and England? And can they offer inspiration to us today?

Catherine Clarke is Professor and Director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, where she is also Director of the Victoria County History of England. She devised and led the St Thomas Way project, as well as the research on medieval Swansea which underpinned it. Catherine is a specialist in medieval literature and culture. Her next book, A History of England in 25 Poems, is forthcoming with Penguin in autumn 2025.