The Shrine, a simple wooden house later encased within a stone church, became a popular source of pilgrimage in the medieval ages, earning the title England's Nazareth , because of the replica of the Holy House that it contained. It is an appropriate title for the Shrine, because during the Middle Ages, England itself was known as "Mary's Dowry" because of the extent and seriousness of Marian devotion there. It was the most famous Shrine after Thomas Becket and attracted many kings and queens in its time. It was destroyed, and its famous Image burned, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the English Reformation under Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.

The story of the Shrine’s revival begins in 1921 and the installment of Fr. Alfred Hope Patten as Vicar of Walsingham. Having a great devotion to Our Lady, he set up a new Image, based on the old Priory seal in the British Museum at the Parish Church of St. Mary's Little Walsingham, and brought the first pilgrimage since the Dissolution to Walsingham in 1922. Previous to this, the Roman Catholic Guild of Our Lady of Ransom had restored pilgrimage to the Slipper Chapel in 1897, thanks in part to the efforts of Miss Charlotte Boyd, an Anglican convert to Catholicism. The present Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham dates from 1931, when on October 15, the Image was translated to the newly built Shrine Church. Since then, Pilgrims have come in ever increasing numbers to the Shrine to pray at the feet of Our Lady, and today the Shrine continues to witness to the Incarnation of Our Lord .

Though it is considered a local shrine because of its connection to Walsingham, it has a global ministry, and devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham has spread where-ever the Anglican Communion exists, including such far-flung places as Australia, Canada, and Nevada.

From the beginning of Advent to the Feast of the Purification, February 2

Alma Redemptoris