#ChurchExplorer : Sarah & Daisy

A Pawsome Cathedral Pilgrimage

by Sarah Morris, currently making a pilgrimage to every dog friendly cathedral in the UK and a follow up to their first article, published last year.

In November 2023 I obtained my pilgrim passport, during a visit to St Albans Cathedral. The idea of collecting stamps in the passport was irresistible so we started our pilgrimage to visit every dog friendly cathedral in England. So here we are a year later having already visited 23 dog friendly cathedrals, with quite a few more left to visit. I particularly enjoy some of the smaller, points of interest which might be overlooked when visiting these ancient historical places.

I have been taking photographs of my dog Daisy in cathedrals to promote my pilgrimage on Instagram with the hashtag #CathedralDog.

One of the dogfriendliest cathedrals we visited this year must be Truro Cathedral. The long drive down to Cornwall did not disappoint. Truro is one of the few cathedrals that allow people to attend services with their dogs as well as just visiting the cathedral. We saw some of the wonderful wood carvings by Violet Pinwill. At a time in Victorian England where Women were expected to stay at home, Violet (who was one of 7 daughters) was an accomplished artist who produced magnificent statues and panels at the cathedral. 

Leicester Cathedral was one we certainly didn’t want to miss and people will be familiar with the story of the discovery of King Richard III whose remains were found under a car park near the cathedral in 2013! He died in 1485 and finally after much consultation, he was brought back inside the cathedral with a very moving memorial in 2015. On the same road trip we also visited Lichfield Cathedral which was only about an hour away. Lichfield started with a trial ‘Dog Friendly Friday’ where dogs were allowed in the cathedral on just one day of the week. We were very pleased that it went so well that Lichfield has joined others in becoming a full time dog friendly cathedral. 

Surely one of the cathedrals that is on every pilgrimage list is a visit to Canterbury Cathedral. I checked with the cathedral about their opening hours so they were expecting us. I arrived about 10 minutes early just as the visitors’ centre was opening. As Daisy and I went in to the shop, a voice asked, ‘Are you our special guests today?’. I wasn’t entirely sure, but as Daisy had been the cover star of an edition of Church Times a few months ago, I assumed that we were. Within seconds a crowd of fans had encircled Daisy and she laid down on the floor of the shop enjoying some tummy rubs! The lovely Canon Emma welcomed us to the cathedral and gave us a special tour. Daisy and I received a blessing at Becket’s shrine and we posed for official photographs. This was the highlight of our pilgrimage.

Our most recent road trip was up to Bury St Edmunds which has been awarded Britain’s most dog friendly town, and St Edmundsbury Cathedral also allows dogs to visit.  We received a warm welcome inside which also has a Lego model of the cathedral to see.  We were pleased to see that in the cathedral shop was a ‘Dogs in the Cathedral 2025 Calendar’ with 12 beautiful photographs of dogs inside the cathedral. I am so pleased that more and more cathedrals are celebrating our love for our canine friends.  

Next on our road trip we went over to Norwich Cathedral where we also saw the resident cathedral cat ‘Budge’ who was fast asleep on a chair in the gift shop.  Thankfully Daisy didn’t see him and therefore a lot of furious barking was avoided. One of the points of interest I loved here was the font at the back of the cathedral. This shiny copper font was actually a huge vat from the nearby Rowntree Mackintosh chocolate factory in Norwich which was donated to the cathedral when the factory closed in 1994.  I must admit there was a smile on my face when I remembered the Vicar of Dibley and her love for chocolate! That scene at her party as she stood by the chocolate fountain and announced, ‘I’m going in!!’ …. I think Geraldine would have approved of this.