Visitor experiences of St Davids Cathedral: the two worlds of pilgrims and secular tourists

Williams, Emyr; Francis, Leslie J.; Robbins, Mandy; Annis, Jennie

doi:10.1179/rut_2007_5_2_004

Cited by 34 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…A limited number of studies have attempted to understand and categorise the motivations of cathedral visitors (Davis, 1992; Williams et al , 2007; Francis et al , 2008) and have recognised that people visiting cathedrals present significant differences in their motivations, behaviour and expected outcomes of the visit. By applying Jungian psychological type theory to visitors of a Welsh cathedral, Francis et al (2008) identified eight different types of visitors based on four psychological processes (perception, judgement, orientation and attitudes).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

Gutic

Caie

Clegg

2010

Journal of Tourism Research

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According to Shackley (2002, after Foucault, 1986, the motivation of most visitors to cathedral is the search for heterotopia, which is defined as a sense of timelessness and spirituality. Shackley goes on to argue that this search for heterotopia is a conscious, even if sometimes not articulated, attempt by visitors to connect to an unchanging and transcendental space that provides spiritual meaning in a life of transient and ephemeral values. Shackley (2002:350) proposes that visitors to cathedrals recognise them as sacred space and are influenced by them, even if they cannot articulate or recognise that effect. 2This paper explores the idea that many visitors to sacred sites and cathedrals in particular, are motivated to do so by a search of spirituality, but that this search is acting as a subconscious, unspoken motivation, which may be hidden by more rational motivations such as curiosity, a desire to learn, or an interest in history and architecture. This paper argues that although more than a third of visitors to Chichester Cathedral are motivated by a search for spirituality or heterotopia as described by Shackley (2002), their motivation is often not the result of a conscious decision, but instead appears to be the result of a subconscious motivation. This finding also suggests that a significant proportion of the tourists that, according to Sharpley and Sundaran (2005), would claim to be motivated by curiosity or a desire to learn when visiting sacred or pilgrimage sites (the 'Tourist trail followers' and the 'Practitioners'), may actually be subconsciously seeking some sense of spiritual experience or fulfilment. This proposition is based on a comparison between what visitors to Chichester Cathedral articulated as their primary motivation to visit the site, and those aspects that they found more satisfying from their visit, as well as the adjectives used to describe the Cathedral after their visit. This theory of subconscious motivation is developed from research on place meaning by Young (1999) and on consumer narratives of cathedral visitors by Voase (2007), and suggests that place meanings and personal narratives for cathedrals are socially constructed and attributed to the place according to the visitor's motivations. In this case, place meaning is acting as a mechanism to create intrinsic benefits that satisfy the visitor's motivational needs, with this process operating at an individual, subconscious level (Young, 1999;Pearce and Caltabiano, 1983). 3Thus, this paper concludes that a significant proportion of the non-religious visitors to cathedrals who argue that their motivations do not include the expectation of finding a sense of spirituality are justifying the benefits derived from visiting these sites by creating place meanings that have a spiritual dimension attached to it. This spiritual dimension arises from the subconscious acceptance of, and the associated behaviour connected to, the sanctity of space that visitors attach to the place.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

Gutic

Caie

Clegg

2010

Journal of Tourism Research

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“…Conventional religion, many argue, is but giving way to the spiritual revolution (Heelas and Woodhead 2005) or to alternative spiritualities (Partridge 2004). People pass through churches and cathedrals for a variety of different reasons, and the religious is only one of those reasons (Williams, Francis, Robbins, and Annis 2007). However, the fact that significant numbers of visitors are willing to respond to the invitation to leave a prayer request reveals that opportunities for prayer requests are meeting some kind of need on the part of those who may be only passing through.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implicit Religion and Ordinary Prayer

Siôn

2010

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Research in implicit religion has been conducted in a wide range of contexts, including those commonly associated with explicit religion. This study explores ordinary prayer by analysing 1,067 prayer cards left in one rural church over a sixteen-month period. The analysis is placed in theoretical contexts defined by the study of implicit religion and the study of ordinary prayer. It uses a conceptual framework which distinguishes between three aspects of ordinary intercessory and supplicatory prayer, defined as reference, intention, and objective (ap Siôn 2007), and explores areas relevant to implicit religion by drawing on Lord's (2006) nine types of implicit religion. Results of the analysis show that specific concrete issues were not included in 30% of prayer requests, but in the 70% of requests where concrete contexts were provided, 29% cited illness and 20% death. Overall, there were more examples of primary control (55%) than secondary control (45%), and primary control was found more often in requests which had the prayer author as a key focus and in the categories of illness, growth, work, relationships, confiict or disaster, sport or recreation, travel and general requests. Secondary control was found mainly in death and the open intention category. These results, alongside the exemplification of categories, give rise to a number of hypotheses regarding ordinary prayer and implicit religion.

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“…The value of research among visitors and tourists was established by Gasson and Winter's (1996) provision of demographic data on visitors to Coventry, Ely, Lichfield, and Wells cathedrals. More recently Annis' work on St Davids Cathedral has been reported in two studies by Williams, Francis, Robbins and Annis (2007) and by Francis, Williams, Annis and Robbins (2008). The first of these studies explored the differences between the experiences of secular tourists (those defined as never attending church) and pilgrims (those defined as attending church on a weekly basis).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Not All Cathedral Congregations Look Alike: Two Case Studies in Rural England

Francis

Williams

2010

Rural Theology

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Cathedral congregations seem to be growing at a time when many parish churches are still experiencing decline. In order to discover more about those who attend cathedral services, the congregations were invited to complete a questionnaire during the main Sunday morning service in two cathedrals situated in medieval English cities within accessible distance from largely rural environments. The survey explored two main themes: reasons for choosing to attend the cathedral; and the contribution of the cathedral toward developing social capital, and spiritual capital in various forms. Data, provided by 124 people in one cathedral and by 199 people in the other cathedral, demonstrated considerable variation in the motivations and outlook of the two congregations. Different cathedrals may be serving their congregations and their local areas in different ways.

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Visitor experiences of St Davids Cathedral: the two worlds of pilgrims and secular tourists

Cited by 34 publications

References 5 publications

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

Implicit Religion and Ordinary Prayer

Not All Cathedral Congregations Look Alike: Two Case Studies in Rural England

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