| Where: | London, on London Bridge |
| When: | Sunday after 6th January (usually!) |
| Time: | 12.30pm |
The parishes of Southwark Cathedral (on the South bank ) and St Magnus the Martyr (on the North bank) meet in the middle of London Bridge, and each January the clergy of both churches process to this point and perform a short religious service during which a wooden cross is cast into the river. The custom has only been established during the twenty-first century but harks back to the ancient ceremony in the Orthodox church of throwing a cross into the waters on the Sunday after Epiphany.
Helpful Hints
In 2024 it was on Sunday January 14th- 2025 date is yet to be confirmed but likely to be 12th.
Click here for the Southwark Cathedral website & Calendar : http://cathedral.southwark.anglican.org/
Click here for the St Magnus the Martyr website : http://www.stmagnusmartyr.org.uk/
and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stmagnusthemartyr/
As a member of the Church, and one fairly tolerant of some of its eccentricities, I do nonetheless wonder if this kind of thing is helpful.
I would like to commend the efficiency and style of this years traditional Church bridge blocking. A real challenge for any of non-religious bridge users to pass
A wonderful long standing ceremony to remember those that have gone before on the bridge and river. People attending the short service stand on the pavement being mindful not to block access for others.
That’s a good point- it’s still a busy thoroughfare and important not to force pedestrians into the traffic!
Hardly ‘long-standing’. They started doing it in 2008. Little more than a PR stunt. If they want to actually ‘bless the river’ then go down to the water, bless it, and do some baptisms in it. Throwing in what amounts to litter, that will need to simply be hauled out, is pointless. I mean, I’m a great lover of Christian tradition and pomp but this is neither. Merely a stunt, and that I don’t agree with.
As a member of the church I find this kind of liturgical flight of fancy to be bordering on the silly and indulgent. I urge the two parishes to find more substantial ways of using their time to witness to the gospel.