About Us

St Seraphim’s chapel is owned and run by St Seraphim’s Trust, which is a registered charity.

The chapel is now a pilgrim chapel, that holds one service a year on St Seraphim’s day.

The chapel and garden are open to all regardless of  faith everyday from 9am – 5pm. ( closes at dusk in winter).

The Quiet Garden is the old railway workers garden that has been converted into a reflective space to compliment the Chapel.

Tours of the Chapels Icons are available by appointment, please contact us.

The tour also includes entry to the Icon Museum, The Quiet Garden and Railway Display.

The Icon Museum is open by appointment only.

 

St. Seraphim’s story really begins in 1966 when Fr. Mark (later to become Fr. David) and Leon Liddament came to Walsingham as part of the newly formed Brotherhood of St. Seraphim. Their role at the time was to look after the little Orthodox Chapel that had been built in the Anglican Shrine; however, they soon felt that the local Orthodox needed a larger church. Looking around, the only buildings that were available at the time were the old prison and the old railway station. Finding the station a better option, they set about converting the building to its current form, which, as the building was being rented from the council, left it practically the same as the railway days with the addition of an onion dome and cross. While in the beginning they had planned to live and work in the rooms adjoining the chapel, events led to the establishment of a monastery in Dunton and a parish church in Great Walsingham, the Church of the Holy Transfiguration. Welcome! (simdif.com) However, St. Seraphim’s has remained a pilgrim chapel open to all who visit Walsingham since its establishment.

St. Seraphim’s Trust was formed in 2005 and the building was finally purchased in 2008. Throughout its history, St. Seraphim’s has been a centre for the creation of Orthodox Icons with both Leon and Fr. David earning their livings as full time iconographers. While both have sadly passed away, Fr. David in 1993 and Leon in 2010, the Trust aims to build on their legacy and make St. Seraphim’s a space for the study and practice of iconography once again, reflecting the life and work of St Seraphim of Sarov through publications, literature and icons.