John Bennett lived and died in Raunds, Northamptonshire, England. 

His will of 1531  requested several post-mortem pilgrimages be carried out, with offerings to be made at each of them.

During 2024 to 2025, I was writing a book about medieval pilgrimage in England. I had read  sign in Higham Ferrers church about about a pilgrimage to the Holy Rood Cross there as a result of a will.

There were no details. Nobody connected with the church nor the local History Society knew who had produced the sign. It was suggested I contact a canon at Peterborough Cathedral, but he couldn't help either. 

Later I found the will in a set of documents that included Bennett's will.

Except for a pilgrimage to Walsingham, a well-known place of pilgrimage both then and now, the other places were all fairly local, except for one other, that at first I knew nothing at all.

I decided to find out more. 

Who was John Bennett?

Why did he request the pilgrimages?

I couldn't include much about Bennett in the book I was writing, so I began to write a shorter one about Raunds and the religious life at the time that led John Bennett to include pilgrimages in his final will and testament. 

I could find no records to show that pilgrimages he asked for had been fulfilled, so I made them myself!

The book is ongoing but here are some of my findings and the pilgrimages.

PLEASE NOTE. This site is still under construction.