The Route
Welcome to the St Sigfrid's Way!
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On this page you will find GPX files for each section of the route. These are files that can be downloaded for use in mapping apps such as OS Maps, Guru Maps or Outdoor Active (previously ViewRanger). Once the files have been downloaded onto the app you will be able to navigate offline (i.e. you won't need to use wifi or mobile data).
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For guidance on how to get set up with GPX files click here.
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We hope to offer enough information to make the pilgrimage route accessible. However, it is a very long route and we have limited resources, so what we can offer might not meet all needs.
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An important thing to note is that the route is not waymarked with signs particular to St Sigfrid's Way, but more often than not it is waymarked for other routes that this route follows. When our route maps onto another, we have stated this in the description of the section. Churches form the beginning and ending points of each day, and are therefore important points of navigation.
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We offer this route in a way that encourages self-navigation, allowing the guidance of heaven and earth to play their part. It is inevitable and integral that sometimes we will get lost and lose the way. Just as in life, we learn to notice when we're lost, and to find our way back. We all need opportunities to ask a stranger for directions or to stop and listen to our own intuition.
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Please do contact us if you need further guidance or advice when planning your pilgrimage.
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English Leg:
York to Canterbury
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
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To open in Google Maps click here
Section 1:
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York to Wakefield
35 miles 3 days. (Along the Paulinus Way).
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York to Bilborough Top (9 miles)
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Bilborough Top to Garforth St Mary’s via Tadcaster St Mary’s (13.5 miles)
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Garforth St Mary’s to Wakefield Cathedral (12.5 miles)
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It is appropriate that the St Sigfrid's Way begins on the Paulinus Way since like Sigfrid, St Paulinus was a great evangelist.
A member of the mission sent to Britain in the early seventh century by Pope Gregory the Great, Paulinus was instrumental in the conversion to Christianity of King Edwin of Northumbria, baptising the king and many of his followers at York in 627.
At Tadcaster, like York, a Roman foundation, now renowned for its breweries, St Sigfrid's Way leaves the Paulinus Way to pass through the ancient British kingdom of Elmet and the South Yorkshire coalfield area to reach Wakefield Cathedral, one of the three Cathedrals of the Diocese of Leeds.
Section 2:
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Wakefield to Stocksbridge
23.5 miles 2 days.
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Wakefield Cathedral to Barnsley Parish Church (St Mary’s) (12 miles)
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Barnsley St Mary’s to Stocksbridge St Matthias (11.5 miles)
Wakefield Cathedral’s labyrinth was installed in 2013. In medieval times people unable to undertake actual pilgrimages might instead walk a labyrinth to gain some of the benefits of pilgrimage.
The production of linen and glass were prime business activities in Barnsley in the 18th and 19th centuries but coal-mining in the adjacent area became increasingly important in the 19th and 20th centuries.
St Mary’s Church, Barnsley is the destination point of this stage for the first day of this stage of the pilgrimage but the domed, art-deco St Paul’s is only a short distance off the pilgrimage route and worth visiting.
Stocksbridge is a renowned steel-making town. The Church of St Matthias was built at the expense of Samuel Fox, a steel magnate, and consecrated in 1890. It was closed in 2018.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 3:
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​Stocksbridge to Eyam
25 miles. 2 days
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Stocksbridge St Matthias to Sheffield Cathedral (12.5 miles)
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Sheffield Cathedral to Eyam Parish Church (St Lawrence) (12.5 miles)
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There’s controversy over where exactly in the ranking of the UK’s largest conurbations Sheffield lies, but it’s certainly within the top ten.
The Cathedral has been where it is now for about a thousand years. The journey to Eyam, which is situated in the Peak District National Park, is from the seriously urban to the seriously rural.
It also takes the pilgrim out of the Province of York and into the Province of Canterbury.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 4:
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Eyam to Ashbourne
32.5 miles 3 days. (Peak Pilgrimage)
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Eyam St Lawrence to Bakewell Parish Church (All Saints) (10 miles)
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Bakewell All Saints to Hartington Hall (9.5 miles)
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Hartington Hall to Ashbourne Parish Church (St Oswald) (13 miles)
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In the Great Plague outbreak of 1665/66 the Eyam community took the decision to go into quarantine, its members staying in place and not fleeing the disease, so that other communities should not be affected.
Very many in the village died as the result of this decision.
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To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 5:
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​Ashbourne to Lichfield
33 miles. 3 days
(Limestone Way, Staffordshire Path)
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​Ashbourne St Oswald to Rocester Parish Church (St Michael) (8 miles)
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Rocester St Michael to Abbots Bromley Parish Church (St Nicholas) (12.5 miles)
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Abbots Bromley St Nicholas to Lichfield Cathedral (12.5 miles)
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Coming off the Pennines, the route makes for Rocester and then Uttoxeter. In Uttoxeter Market Place in 1784 the great lexicographer Samuel Johnson stood bareheaded in the rain for some hours in reparation for his refusing to work on his father’s market bookstall. ‘Johnson’s Penance’ is commemorated every year in the town with a special ceremony.
Johnson was born in Lichfield and will have worshipped at the Cathedral there. The present building is largely 13th century and is unique among English cathedrals in having three spires.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 6:
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Lichfield to Birmingham
20.5 miles. 2 days.
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Lichfield Cathedral to Sutton Coldfield, Holy Trinity Church (11.5 miles)
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Sutton Coldfield, Holy Trinity to St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, Birmingham, via St Chad’s Cathedral and St Philip’s Cathedral (9 miles)
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The route runs through countryside, then outer Birmingham and into the heart of the United Kingdom’s industrial revolution. Birmingham’s dynamism and creativity were central to the nation’s development in its high industrial phase over the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as is indicated in the massive growth of the city’s population from 1500 in 1700 to 74,000 in 100 to over 1 million in 1950.
St Chad’s Cathedral is the end / start point of the Newman Pilgrimage route between Oxford and Birmingham, which the St Sigfrid route follows to Banbury, Deddington and Over Worton, before taking an alternative route into Oxford from that of the Newman Pilgrimage.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
​
To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 7:
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Birmingham to Stratford
44.5 miles 4 days.
(Newman Pilgrimage)
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​​St. Annes, Birmingham to Hopwood Westmead Hotel via Birmingham Oratory and the Oratorian Retreat House at Rednal (12 miles)
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Hopwood Westmead Hotel to Hockley Heath Church (St Thomas) (10 miles)
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Hockley Heath St Thomas to Preston Bagot Church (All Saints) (11.5 miles)
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Preston Bagot All Saints to Stratford, Holy Trinity Church (10 miles)
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The Birmingham Oratorian Community was founded by St John Henry Newman in 1849.
Newman died at the Oratorian Retreat House at Rednal and is buried in the cemetery there. From Rednal the St Sigfrid and Newman routes take the North Worcester Path and the Stratford Canal to Baddesley Clinton Manor, a Roman Catholic house of long-standing since pre-Reformation times and the nearby St Francis RC Church, previously the chapel of a Roman Catholic conventual community. Newman visited both house and community. Then back from Baddesley Clinton to the Stratford Canal and Shakespeare’s birthplace.
Section 8:
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Stratford to Banbury
26.5 miles 2 days
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​Stratford Holy Trinity Church to Halford Parish Church (St Mary’s) (10.5 miles)
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Halford St Mary to Banbury Parish Church (St Mary) (16 miles)
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The route follows the River Stour south from Stratford and then turns east and south up the Cotswold scarp face, along the Ironstone Benefice Pilgrimage Route and into Banbury. ​
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To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
​
To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 9:
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Banbury to Oxford
34 miles 3 days
(Deddington Deanery Pilgrimage)
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Banbury St Mary to Deddington Parish Church (St Peter and St Paul) (9.5 miles)
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Deddington St Peter and St Paul to Woodstock Parish Church (St Mary Magdalene) (12 miles)
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Woodstock Mary Magdalene to Hampton Gay then Oxford, University Church and Christ Church Cathedral. (12.5 miles)
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In 1824 Newman gave his first sermon in Over Worton, near Deddington, and the next year his first public address in Deddington itself. He may have visited Deddington on other occasions, possibly to hear the celebrated Evangelical preacher, John Hughes.
From Over Worton the route continues to Woodstock and Blenheim Palace and then to the Oxford canal and into Oxford.
Newman was (Anglican) vicar of the University Church of St Mary’s from 1828 to 1843. In 1845 he was received in to the Roman Catholic Church at Littlemore. The memorial in the University Church to the martyrs of the English Reformation, both Protestant and Catholic, installed in 2008, is a moving marker at about the halfway stage of this ecumenical pilgrimage of a rapprochement between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.
Section 10:
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Oxford to Egham
83.5 miles 7 days.
(Thames Path Pilgrimage)
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Christ Church Oxford to Abingdon St Helen’s (10 miles)
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Abingdon St Helen’s to Dorchester Abbey (9.5 miles)
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Dorchester Abbey to Goring St Thomas (12 miles)
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Goring St Thomas to Reading Greyfriars (12 miles)
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Reading Greyfriars to Henley Parish Church (St Mary’s) (10 miles)
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Henley St Mary to Marlow Parish Church (All Saints) (9 miles)
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Marlow All Saints to Maidenhead Parish Church (St Mary’s) (8 miles)
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Maidenhead St Mary’s to Egham (St John the Baptist's Parish Church) (13 miles)
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The Thames Pilgrimage Path was inaugurated in 2014. It follows the Thames as it flows through Oxford diocese. Dorchester Abbey contains the shrine of St Birinus who evangelised Wessex in the seventh century.
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To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 11:
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Egham to Southwark Cathedral
42 miles 4 days
(Thames Path)
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Egham Parish Church to Walton-on-Thames (St Mary’s Church) (9.5 miles)
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St Mary’s Church to Ham (St Andrew’s Church) (9.5 miles)
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St Andrew’s Church, Ham to Putney (Putney Parish Church), (10.5 miles)
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Putney Parish Church to Southwark Cathedral, via Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. (12.5 miles)
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At Runnymede (near Egham) in 1215 King John gave his assent to the Magna Carta, often regarded as a foundational document for the recognition of the legal rights of individuals in respect of the government. The route continues mostly along the Thames Path through west London until Westminster.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 12:
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Southwark Cathedral to Canterbury
83.5 miles 8 days
(Augustine Camino)
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Southwark Cathedral to East Greenwich, Christ Church (7.5 miles)
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East Greenwich, Christ Church to Erith, Christ Church (12.5 miles)
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Erith, Christ Church to Northfleet, St Botolph’s Church (9 miles)
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Northfleet St Botolph’s to Rochester Cathedral (10 miles)
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Rochester Cathedral to Detling, Church of St Martin of Tours (13 miles)
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Detling St Martin’s to Charing, Church of St Peter and St Paul (12.5 miles)
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Charing St Peter and St Paul to Godmersham, St Lawrence the Martyr Church (10 miles)
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Godmersham St Lawrence to Canterbury Cathedral (9 miles)
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Chaucer’s Canterbury pilgrims began their journey at the Tabard Inn, the site of which lies a few minutes’ walk south of Southwark Cathedral. St Sigfrid's Way initially follows the Thames rather more closely than Chaucer’s fictional pilgrims would have. At Rochester Cathedral, St Paulinus, first encountered on this journey at York, is buried.
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To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Section 13:
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Canterbury to Ramsgate
22 miles. 2 days
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​Canterbury to Preston (9 miles)
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Preston to Ramsgate (13 miles)
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Canterbury Cathedral became the prime pilgrim destination in England after the killing there of Archbishop Thomas Becket by knights of King Henry II in 1170.
The Church of St Augustine in Ramsgate was built by Augustus Pugin, the great architect of the 19th century Gothic revival, to commemorate the arrival in Thanet in 597 of Augustine, who would become the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Pugin is buried in the Church.
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
Swedish Leg:
Göteborg
to Växjö
Göteborg – Lödöse
Lödöse – Vänersborg
Vänersborg - Grästorp
Grästorp – Lidköping
Lidköping – Husaby
Husaby – Skara
Skara – Varnhem
Varnhem – Falköping
Falköping – Jönköping
Jönköping – Nydala
Nydala – Växjö
3 days (31 miles / 50 km)
3 days (31 miles / 50 km)
2 days (18.5 miles / 30 km)
2 days (25 miles / 40 km)
1 day (12.5 miles / 20 km)
1 day (15.5 miles / 25 km)
1 day (9 miles / 15 km)
2 days (18.5 miles / 30 km)
5 days (50 miles / 80 km)
4 days (43.5 miles / 70 km)
4 days (43.5 miles / 70 km)
To download the GPX file (for use in mapping apps such as OSMaps or ViewRanger) click here
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To open the map in Google Maps click here
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To download the KML file (for use in apps like Google Earth), click here
The Swedish route is roughly 257 miles / 414 km
Further information on the Swedish leg can be found by clicking the following button. The site can be translated into English by pressing the button "översätt" in the top right hand corner.
Inaugural Pilgrimage 2021
See our journey of walking the St Sigfrid's Way ...