Trail of thought

An exploration of the history of pilgrimage is informative but rather too objective for the subject matter, says PETER STANFORD

Peter Stanford

Discerning where the modern world is heading can be a confusing business, especially when one set of evidence contradicts another. In the west, organised religion is in decline in all but a few small pockets, yet pilgrimage is expanding fast. Throughout history, it has usually been intimately connected with faith traditions, a chance to join with others of similar beliefs on a physical journey to get closer to your god or gods. So why, then, are we seeing spectacular revivals of, for example, the Camino de Santiago – the ancient Catholic pilgrim paths to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela, by tradition the burial place of the apostle James? By the mid-1970s, notes Kathryn Hurlock, only 240 pilgrims were recorded walking to Santiago each year. In 2024, nearly 500,000…

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Bbc History (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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