Our Rogation Sunday Campaign — The 2025 Participating Communities

Our 2025 Rogation Sunday campaign

From the Latin, rogare, meaning ask; rogation is the festival that marks the blessing of the land to bring forth good growth.

For centuries, parish communities have observed Rogation Sunday as a time to seek blessings both for the land's bounty and collective wellbeing. Rooted in the Middle Ages, this tradition involves procession, outdoor prayer, and the ancient practice of ‘beating the bounds’—walking the parish's boundaries or visiting its sacred sites (e.g. wells, sacred trees, high places and landmark boulders): a 'parish pilgrimage'.

Participating Communities

Soil & Supper Rogation Celebration at Daylsford Organic Farm on May 17th

On Saturday, May 17th, join the British Pilgrimage Trust for for a joyful evening of festivities that revive this ancient tradition connecting us to our land. We will walk the Daylsford Farm's edges and 'beat the bounds', with drinks in hand and music from Ordinary Folk, led by Daylsford's Head of the Market Garden Jez Taylor and Guy Hayward. Buy tickets here.

Rogation Celebration with The British Pilgrimage Trust on Hampstead Heath on May 25th

On Sunday, May 25th, join Guy Hayward and Dr. Rupert Sheldrake as they guide a band of pilgrims this Rogation Sunday after the 10.30pm service of Rogation at St John at Hampstead including hymns about nature (to which you are welcome to attend), for a 'beating the bounds' pilgrimage across its parish: one of London’s most iconic green spaces, Hampstead Heath. Buy tickets here.

Church Community Rogation Celebrations

This year we offered grants to churches around the country who wish to celebrate Rogation in a way that brings people together.

Below are churches who successfully received grants and will be performing rogation ceremonies throughout the coming weekends in May, so please check with the churches directly for details and the latest information, as the information below may not be completely up to date!

Communities will be offering delightful community rogation pilgrimage walks, and refreshments for all. Connect with the churches directly through links below to participate and support his wonderful, and ancient, community tradition.

Shaftsbury Abbey, Shaftesbury - Sunday, May 25th, 2025

Shaftesbury, Park Walk, Shaftesbury SP7 8JR (maps)
For more details
Shaftsbury Abbey website

Springhead Trust to Shaftsbury Abbey - Tuesday, May 27th, 2025

Seven mile pilgrimage Springhead Trust to Shaftsbury Abbey
For more details
Laura Downer at Positive Nature pilgrimage@positivenature.world or laura.downer@positivenature.world

St Peter’s Church, Blaenavon - Saturday, May 24th, 2025 2PM

St Peter’s Church, Blaenavon NP4 9AS (maps)
For more details
St. Peter’s Church Facebook page
Rev. Liane Chalmers, Curate

St Mary’s Church, Westwell

St Mary’s Church, Westwell, Burford, Oxon OX18 4JT (maps)
For more details
Shill Valley & Broadshire Benefice website
Moray Angus, Churchwarden moray@ebla.co.uk and gerri@gerrigallagher.com

St Mary, Monnington on Wye - Sunday, May 18th, 2025

St Mary, Monnington on Wye, Hereford HR4 7NL (maps)
For more details
Church websiteSt Mary's website
Instagram
Facebook page
‍Sarah Girling, PCC Treasurer

St Ethelbert’s Church, Larling - Sunday, May 25th, 2025 11AM

St Ethelbert’s Church, Off Watton Road, Larling, Norfolk NR16 2QZ (maps)
For more details
St Ethelbert's Church website
Harling & Guiltcrossbenefice website
St Ethelbert's Facebook page
Matthew Welch, Treasurer

St Michael East Wickham, Welling - Saturday, August 16th, 2025

St Michael East Wickham, Upper Wickham Lane, Welling, Kent, DA16 3AP (maps)
For more details
St Michael East Wickham website
June Knowles - knowlesjune5@gmail.com
Facebook page

St Mary's Church, Allenby Crescent, Fotherby - Sunday May 25th, 2025 10:30AM

(Hosted by St Edith's Church, Little Grimsby)
At St Mary, Allenby Crescent, Fotherby, Louth LN11 0UG (maps)
For more details
St Mary's Church website
St Edith's Church website
David Margarson, Reader (Deanery of Louthesk) david.margarson@outlook.com

St Giles Church, Sidmouth - Sunday, May 25th, 2025

St Giles Church, 31 Fore St, Sidbury, Sidmouth EX10 0SD (maps)
For more details
St Giles Church website
Facebook event page
Rev Sarah Mounoury, Curate - Sarah.Mounoury@sidvalley.org.uk

St Candida and the Holy Cross, Bridport - Saturday, May 31st - Sunday, June 1st, 2025

St Candida and the Holy Cross, Whitchurch Canonicorum, Bridport DT6 6RQ (maps)
For more details
St Candida Church website
Event to coincide with St Wite's Festival activities
Virginia Luckett, Church Leader, Vicar

Church of the Holy Rood, Rodbourne - Sunday, May 25th, 2025 10:30AM

Church of the Holy Rood, Rodbourne, Malmesbury SN16 0EX (maps)
For more details
Holy Rood Church website
Susannah Dibben, Churchwarden

The Church of All Saints, Youlgreave - Sunday, May 25th, 2025

The Church of All Saints, Youlgreave, Alport Lane, Youlgreave, Derbyshire DE45 1WN (maps)
For more details
All Saints Church website
Youlgrave Community Facebook Page
Dan Cocker, Churchwarden

St Michael & All Angels, Mount Dinham - Sunday, May 25th, 2025

St Michael & All Angels, Mount Dinham, Dinham Road, Exeter EX4 4EB (maps)
For more details
St Michael & All Angels Mount Dinham website

St Michael and All Angels Church, Chirbury - Sunday, May 25th, 2025 1PM

St Michael and All Angels Church, Chirbury, SY15 6BG
Event held at Middleton Holy Trinity Church (maps)
For more details
Facebook page
Richard Lonsdale

St Michael's, Shute - Sunday, May 25th, 2025

St Michael's Church, Haddon Road, Shute, EX13 7QW (maps)
For more details
Facebook page
Bijan Omrani, Church Warden

St Michael's Church, St Albans- Sunday, May 25th, 2025 9:30AM

St Michael's Church, St Albans, AL3 4SL (maps)
For more details
Church website
Jonathan Lloyd, Vicar vicar@parishofstmichaels.org.uk

Chicklade: All Saints Church

Hindon Lane, Tisbury, SALISBURY, Wiltshire. SP3 6QQ (maps)
For more details
Chicklade website
‍Rev Joanna Naish, revdjoannanaish@gmail.com

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Map of communities participating in Rogation festivals

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About Rogation

These festivities are about community, warmth and hospitality

Rogation is an invitation to step outside—to pray not only for the land but for the entire community: the parish and its footpaths, fields, pastures, woods, gardens, orchards, tools, seeds, crops, plants, animals and people.

Everyone is welcome, always. Those who attend church and those that do not. This is an opportunity to revive an ancient practice in a way that resonates with today. In this way, it aligns with our own charity's own bring your own beliefs ethos.

To support the campaign

• Make a donation via PayPal.
• Email us to request our bank details.
• If you have questions or need further help, email us at hello@britishpilgrimage.org.

Thank you.

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The Ancient and Evolving Tradition of Rogation

Rogation dates back to at least the late 5th century, with its observance formally mandated across Anglo-Saxon England in 747 AD. Traditionally, Rogation processions sought divine blessings for the land, marking boundaries and offering prayers for agricultural success and protection.

However, Rogation has never been solely about territorial boundaries. Instead, it can be understood as an engagement with spiritual boundaries—a way of interacting with the relationship between humans and the natural world. Processions did not merely walk parish lines; they visited sites of sacred power in the landscape that had been woven into Christian tradition, such as holy wells, sacred trees, and landmark boulders.

The functions of Rogation are diverse yet interconnected:

• Prayers for the safety and success of a community
• Marking out a parish or spiritual territory
• Processions between spiritually significant sites
• Blessings for newly planted fields and communal outdoor spaces

While walking the entire parish boundary remains a known practice, Rogation can just as meaningfully take place around a churchyard, a local park, a farm, or other communal spaces.

Symbols and Offerings in Rogation Liturgies

Several rituals from the Anglo-Saxon tradition enrich the observance of Rogation. One ancient practice, recorded in the Æcerbot ritual, involves weaving crosses from natural materials and planting them at the edge of fields or gardens. A Brigid’s Cross, traditionally woven from rushes or reeds, would be especially fitting for revival today.

Other meaningful offerings in a Rogation service could include:

• Money – representing tithes and regular offerings
• Bread – ideally home-baked, symbolising sustenance and community
• Wine – a simple table wine, connecting the earthly and the sacred
• Soil – presented in a wooden or earthenware bowl, symbolising the land’s fertility
• Water – in a clear vessel, reflecting the purity and necessity of life-giving water
• Seed – a collection of seeds, either loose in a bowl or packaged, to be blessed for future planting
• Crosses – small wooden, reed, or paper crosses, carried and blessed as part of the procession

Rogation for Today

By reclaiming these practices, Rogation can once again become a deeply communal and inclusive occasion, blending the rhythms of ancient tradition with contemporary environmental and spiritual awareness.

This summary is based on Nick Mayhew Smith's book "Landscape Liturgies: Outdoor worship resources from the Christian tradition".

Thank you to Rupert Sheldrake and Guy Hayward for their generous donations to make this campaign possible. Rupert inspired Guy to establish Rogation, with them having worked together on a similar project for Patronal Festivals for the Choral Evensong Trust here. They are leading a Rogation Pilgrimage together in Hampstead on Sunday 25th May from 12-3.30pm - book here.