Icon carried on pilgrimage

Icon carried on pilgrimage

The bronze icon may have been dropped by a medieval pilgrim

An ancient bronze figure that lay undiscovered in a Norfolk field for 800 years is being carried on a pilgrimage to the religious shrine at Walsingham.

The six-inch figure of Christ was found by a worker on the Wallington Estate in Downham Market in 2002.

It is thought to be French and to date back to 1210.

It was possibly dropped by a pilgrim on the trail from Ely in Cambridgeshire to Walsingham, which passed through Wallington.

Now Dave Flower and Alan Davies are carrying the icon to the Anglican shrine.

Both men are churchwardens at St Edmunds Church in Downham.

Pilgrimage for charity

"I thought it was a good idea to take it to complete its journey to Walsingham," said Mr Flower.

Mr Davies admits that doing the pilgrimage is a complete change for him.

"It's something I've never done before and normally I don't walk anywhere," he said.

They think they will reach the shrine by Tuesday, and are doing the 32-mile walk for charity.

Walsingham has been a place of religious pilgrimage since before the Norman conquest.