On a cold but gloriously sunny autumn day, Friday 24 October, a diverse group of fifty people – led by the Bishop of Willesden and the Bishop of Edmonton – embarked on the Diocese of London’s second Pilgrimage for Racial Justice.
The seven-mile journey, from Westminster to Notting Hill, traced sites of deep significance to Black history in our capital. At each stop, pilgrims paused to listen, to learn, and to pray. Along the way there was time for silence, reflection, conversation, and worship – each step an act of remembrance and hope.
Some joined for part of the route, but most completed the full distance. We walked together, acknowledging that our experiences of this city have been – and continue to be – very different.
The pilgrimage began at 10 am with an opening liturgy at St Margaret’s Church, in the grounds of Westminster Abbey. This area bears witness to the lives of three remarkable figures from the 18th century: Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, and Ottobah Cugoano. Each was brought to London as an enslaved person, each bought his freedom, and each became a powerful voice in the movement to abolish slavery.
A gentle walk through the beauty of St James’s Park led us to St James’s Piccadilly, the site of Cugoano’s baptism. Inside, vivid contemporary paintings – created in response to his story and others like it – spoke of freedom, dignity, and new life. One visiting schoolchild had remarked that the paintings suggested “what the world might have looked like if the transatlantic slave trade had never happened.”
From there, we made our way through the bustling streets of the West End. The walk provided time to talk, to reflect, and to wonder at the courage and sacrifice required to bring about change.
Lunch was shared in the warm welcome of the Anglican Communion Office, before we continued towards Notting Hill and a more recent chapter of London’s story. This was the neighbourhood where many Windrush migrants settled amid prejudice and hardship. By the late 1950s, racial tensions had ignited here – most tragically marked by the murder of 32-year-old Antiguan carpenter Kelso Cochrane. Yet from this same community also came resilience, resistance, and the joy of Notting Hill Carnival.
Our final stop was Grenfell Tower – a site of heartbreak and injustice. Many who lost their lives there were migrants and people of colour, living in dangerous and substandard housing.
In the pews of St Clement’s Church, beneath the shadow of Grenfell, the pilgrimage came to a close. We ended the day in prayer, recommitting ourselves to follow in the footsteps of those courageous women and men who have gone before us – to be people of reconciliation, embodying love, and serving a world in need.
