Walsingham House at Abbotswick has served as a house of prayer for more than thirty years. The facilities were fully refurbished in 2018 – and the photographs scrolling on your screen show you the wonderful rooms we have here, along with the newly created chapel built into the two hundred year old garden wall: a haven of prayerful tranquility. We enjoy fourteen acres of glorious grounds, full of natural beauty.

For almost 40 years Walsingham House has run as a Catholic retreat house, with a young adult residential team who can offer retreats for young people: we warmly welcome Confirmation and School groups for residential or day retreats, and Parish adult groups for day retreats.

For 2023-24 we are offering Walsingham House at Abbotswick as a venue for groups to lead their own retreats, while we take time to restructure and plan for the future. We can also offer conference and training facilities. Individuals can visit our grounds and chapel at any time. On these web pages, you will find all the information you need to bring a group to Walsingham House at Abbotswick, or to visit as an individual.

Walsingham House began in Chingford almost fourty years ago; from 1995-2017 the home of Walsingham House was the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Canvey Island. We are very grateful to the Sisters for their generosity throughout that period.

Abbotswick was founded as a House of Prayer by Sr Agatha in 1987; from 2004-2017 it was run by the Community of Our Lady of Walsingham (COLW).

In 2017, when COLW moved to the Shrine of Walsingham, in Norfolk, the heritage of Walsingham House was fused with the heritage of Abbotswick and – with the extensive refurbishment complete – the house reopened again in January 2018, as “Walsingham House at Abbotswick.”

We welcome groups to Walsingham House from Wednesday to Saturday. It is a the perfect setting for a day retreat for both young people and adults.  We encourage schools and parishes to continue using this wonderful resource whether that is for class retreats, staff INSET days, confirmation days, adult groups such as parish readings or Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. Our main room and the chapel can both comfortably take fifty people – the size of a coach, and a sensible size for people to then enjoy the tranquility of the grounds in times of personal prayer and reflection.

The house is a magnificent resource for our diocese.

Please telephone or email for any further information, and we will happily help you.

With every blessing

Fr Dominic and the BCYS and Walsingham House at Abbotwsick staff and team.