No.
1.) AFAIK, there are no explicit record of Jews in England before the Norman Conquest in 1066, though some evidence may point out that there were at least a few during Roman times. These Jews in Brittania were most likely either soldiers in oriental units of the Roman army, traders connected with the import of items such as pottery or glasswares, or slaves/captives sold into slavery. Still, these are not enough to support the idea that Joseph of Arimathea and the young Jesus went there.
2.) The origins of Christianity in Britain is shrouded in mystery; even today, scholars are still trying to p(name removed by moderator)oint when or how the religion came to Britain. We know that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in Tertullian’s lifetime, because he writes about it. Tertullian, however, does not mention who brought the faith to the island. This void in the history of England led many writers in the Middle Ages to theorize that this apostle or that bishop went to Britannia and preached the gospel there. In one version, Sts. Peter and Paul are also said to have preached in London (Westminster Abbey, dedicated to St. Peter, and St. Paul’s are said to have been built in commemoration of this event)! I’ll just quote Wikipedia here, who seems fairly reliable this time:
Legends about the arrival of Christianity in Britain abounded during the Middle Ages. Early writers do not connect Joseph to this activity, however. Tertullian (AD 155-222) wrote in
Adversus Judaeos that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in his lifetime, writing of:
… all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons – inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ.
Tertullian does not say how the Gospel came to Britain before AD 222. However, Eusebius, (AD 260-340) Bishop of Caesarea and one of the earliest and most comprehensive of church historians, wrote of Christ’s disciples in Demonstratio Evangelica, saying that “some have crossed the Ocean and reached the Isles of Britain.” Saint Hilary of Poitiers (AD 300-376) also wrote that the Apostles had built churches and that the Gospel had passed into Britain.
Hippolytus (AD 170-236), considered to have been one of the most learned Christian historians, puts names to the seventy disciples whom Jesus sent forth in Luke 10, includes Aristobulus of Romans 16:10 with Joseph, and states that he ended up becoming a pastor in Britain.
In none of these earliest references to Christianity’s arrival in Britain is Joseph of Arimathea mentioned. The first connection of Joseph of Arimathea with Britain is found in the 9th century Life of Mary Magdalene by Rabanus Maurus (AD 766-856), Archbishop of Mainz. Rabanus states that Joseph of Arimathea was sent to Britain, and he goes on to detail who travelled with him as far as France, claiming that he was accompanied by “the two Bethany sisters, Mary and Martha, Lazarus (who was raised from the dead), St. Eutropius, St. Salome, St. Cleon, St. Saturnius, St. Mary Magdalen, Marcella (the maid of the Bethany sisters), St. Maxium or Maximin, St. Martial, and St. Trophimus or Restitutus.”…
…The route he describes follows that of a supposed Phoenician trade route to Britain, as described by Diodorus Siculus.
William of Malmesbury mentions Joseph’s going to Britain in one passage of his Chronicle of the English Kings. He says Philip the Apostle sent twelve Christians to Britain, one of whom was his dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea. William does not mention Joseph by name again, but he mentions the twelve evangelists generally. He claims that Glastonbury Abbey was founded by them; Glastonbury would be associated specifically with Joseph in later literature. Cardinal Caesar Baronius, the Vatican Librarian and historian (d. 1609), recorded this voyage by Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, Martha, Marcella and others in his Annales Ecclesiatici, volume 1, section 35.
3.) The title “
Dowry of Mary” actually only dates during the Middle Ages. There is a tradition that Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066) was the first person to use the expression, but there is no historical documentation to support it; even today, exactly who popularized the term is still a matter of debate. In fact, the very first documentary evidence we have for the title was found in a painting which used to hang in the English College in Rome, which showed Richard II (1377 - 1399) and his consort kneeling before Our Lady and offering England to her - perhaps a reference to the king’s re-dedication of England to Mary as her dowry on the Sunday after Corpus Christi of 1381.
The expression was probably applied
not because the Blessed Mother did some legendary visit in the islands, but because of the fervent devotion to Our Lady that existed in medieval England, as evidenced by the numerous shrines to her in many places, say,
Walsingham,
Lincoln, or
Ipswich. This site explains
the whole thing in more detail.
4.) Even if we suppose that the young Jesus and Joseph of A did go to Roman Britannia, why in the world would they do so? What is exactly their purpose? Is there something in Britannia Province that drew them?
What do you mean that Anglicans were Catholics when the poem/hymn saw the light of day? “Jerusalem” comes from Blake’s epic poem “Milton” which has “1804” on the title page - the Anglican Church was firmly established by that time. The composer of the hymn, Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, was certainly not a Catholic; neither was Blake.