A notice outside St Nicolas’ Church welcomes pilgrims walking St Frideswide’s Way and the Camino Inglés, with a stamp available inside the church to record their visit.

St Frideswide’s Way is a 40-mile pilgrimage route from Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford to Reading Abbey. Launched in 2024, it follows the Thames Path through Abingdon, Dorchester-on-Thames, Wallingford and Pangbourne.

As Abingdon is one of the stops along the route, pilgrims can visit the former Abbey grounds and the town’s historic churches.

St Helen’s Church is often open, and its pilgrimage stamp was available today.

From Reading, the pilgrim route connects with the St James’ Way to Southampton, forming part of the wider Camino de Santiago, the network of pilgrimage routes leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, where St James is honoured.

So the little sign at St Nicolas’ and the stamp available at St Helen’s are part of a much bigger pilgrimage network.