Oliver Smith, a UK based travel writer, will discuss how pilgrimage has shaped Britain across time from hints of sacred journeys in the depths of the ice age to secular 21st century pilgrimages to football stadiums and festivals. As well as exploring the great centres of British Christian pilgrimage such as Glastonbury, Canterbury and Walsingham, he will discuss how holy islands, holy mountains and holy wells have become invested with sanctity.

Oliver Smith is an award-winning travel journalist. His work can be found in various outlets including FT Weekend, The Times and National Geographic Traveller. His first book, The Atlas of Abandoned Places: A Journey Through the World’s Forgotten Wonders, was published in 2022. His first narrative travel book, On this Holy Island: A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain published in 2024, sets out to radically reframe our idea of ‘pilgrimage’ in Britain by retracing sacred travel made across time. It was named an FT Book of the Year 2024.

About On This Holy Island:

*** A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR ***

“Excellent…immensely well-researched and playful. Smith has written something special.” -- Patrick Galbraith, The Times

"Imaginative and engaging" -- Country Life

Acclaimed travel writer Oliver Smith sets out to radically reframe our idea of 'pilgrimage' in Britain by retracing sacred travel made across time, from murmurs of ritual journeys in the depths of Ice Age to new pilgrimages of the 21st century.

He embarks on an epic adventure across sacred British landscapes – climbing into remote sea caves, sleeping inside Neolithic tombs, scaling forgotten holy mountains and once marooning himself at sea. Following holy roads to churches, cathedrals and standing stones, this evocative and enlightening travelogue explores places prehistoric, pagan and Christian, but also reveals how football stadiums and music festivals have become contemporary places of pilgrimage.

The routes walked are often ancient, the pilgrims he meets are always modern. But underpinning the book is a timeless truth: that making journeys has always been a way of making meaning. So often, Oliver finds, “the unravelling of a path goes in tandem with the unravelling of the soul.”

For more information on Oliver Smith - https://www.oliversmithtravel.com/

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