Glastonbury | England, UK History & Legends | Britannica (original) (raw)

Glastonbury, town (parish), Mendip district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, southwestern England. It is situated on the slopes of a group of hills that rise from the valley of the River Brue to a tor (hill) reaching 518 feet (158 metres) above sea level on the southeastern side of town.

Low mounds 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Glastonbury were found in 1892 to contain remains of prehistoric Iron Age dwellings. Those, together with two other famous groups of mounds at Meare, 3.75 miles (6 km) northwest of Glastonbury, were excavated early in the 20th century. At the time of habitation the dwellings stood on low-lying ground of peat bogs and watercourses. The types of pottery found indicate occupation from about 60 bce until about the time of the Roman invasions of the 1st century ce; the site of Meare was reoccupied during the 4th century. The Abbot’s Tribunal, Glastonbury, houses some of the objects discovered during excavation.

The Benedictine Abbey of St. Mary at Glastonbury was perhaps the oldest and certainly one of the richest in England. Legend asserts that the abbey church was built in 166 ce by missionaries from Rome, who came at the request of King Lucius, perhaps the first Christian king in Britain. Built of timber and wattles, the church lasted until it burned 1184 and claimed to house the tomb of St. Patrick of Ireland. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, on the other hand, states that Ine, king of Wessex in the early 8th century, founded the abbey, but other evidence points to its establishment at an earlier date, and a Celtic monastery definitely existed there before the Saxon conquest. By the 10th century the abbey (already the burial place of three kings) was of great importance, and Domesday Book (1086) indicates its wealth, which by that time included lands in five counties. After the disastrous fire of 1184, rebuilding of the abbey and construction of the new St. Mary’s Chapel were undertaken; construction—halted at times by disputes within the church—continued into the 14th century. After the dissolution of the monasteries (1536–39), the abbey eventually became a quarry, its stone being used for other buildings and roads; but the ruins of St. Mary’s Chapel and parts of the abbey remain.

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In 1191 the supposed grave of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, the legendary rulers of post-Roman Britain, was discovered in the cemetery at Glastonbury; and the bones found there were reinterred in the abbey church. Other legends, dating from the mid-13th century, claim that the early Christian St. Joseph of Arimathea went to the town, bringing the chalice of the Last Supper or phials holding blood of the crucifixion; the Chalice Well became a place of pilgrimage early in the 16th century. It was later asserted that the Glastonbury thorn (Crataegus monogyna praecox) sprang from St. Joseph’s staff.

The dissolution of the monasteries impoverished the town, but prosperity improved in the 19th century, with better land drainage and enclosure of moors that were previously held in common. The chief modern local industry, apart from dairy farming, is the processing of sheepskins and manufacture of sheepskin goods. Nearby Worthy Farm hosts the Glastonbury Festival, a popular music and performing arts event that is typically held every summer. Pop. (2001) 8,784; (2011) 8,932.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.