Glastonbury

Did Jesus really visit the Holy Isle of Avalon as a young man And did Joseph of Arimathea really found the first church here too Is King Arthur really buried with Guinevere in the Abbey groundsIn this small guide book, local historian George Wingfield unravels some of the mysteries of this ancient spiritual centre of England, telling its story from prehistory up to the present day. With rare old engravings, and good walks around the town and its holy hills.

• from a 1610 map of Somerset
• Glastonbury isle of avalon George Wingfield Wooden Books Ltd 2007 AD Published by Wooden Books Ltd.
• This book is dedicated to my darling Jan Many thanks to John Michell, Jamie George and Hamish Miller
• 1 INTRODUCTION Few would guess that a small market town in somerset was once considered the holiest
• 3 2 The MeNDIps secret passages through the landscape the Mendip Hills run eastwest across north som
• 5 4 The IsLe OF AVALON a secret island At the end of the last Ice Age Britain was still joined to wh
• 7 6 GLAsTONbURy LAke VILLAGe dwellings in the mists Marshland settlements thrived in the Avalon Mar
• 9 8 The LIe OF The LAND the hills and springs sometimes one can stand atop Glastonbury tor in br
• 11 10 JOseph OF ARIMATheA and the Holy Thorn Legend has it that st Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of
• 13 12 The OLD ChURCh first in Britain the small round oratory built of wattles was held in great ven
• 15 14 seVeN hOLy IsLANDs and the Saints of Glastonbury Glastonburys twelve hides of land granted to
• 17 16 The DIsAsTROUs FIRe OF 1184 and a great discovery on may 25th 1184 a terrible fire broke out i
• 19 18 The sT MARy ChApeL and its geometry the basis of glastonburys foundation pattern was recorded
• 21 20 kING ARThUR s TOMb the holy grail of royal relics the monks in 1191 had first uncovered a thic
• 23 22 ARThURIAN LeGeND and the quest for the holy grail From those early times the Legend of King Ar
• 25 24 The GReAT Abbey longest in Britain Left The abbey as it looked shortly before its destruction
• 27 26 The pOweR OF The AbbOT and his mighty kitchen In the 10th century, under Abbot Dunstan, the ab
• 29 28 GLAsTONbURy TOR at the centre of the world A rounded hill shaped somewhat like a female breast
• 31 30 sT MIChAeL s ON The TOR all that remains the roofless church tower which stands on the tor tod
• 33 32 The sT MIChAeL LINe a caduceus across the land During the 1960s and 70s John Michell published
• 35 34 The FALL OF The Abbey the great divorce By the start of the 16th century Glastonbury Abbey
• 37 36 thus the old prophecy was fulfilled with the wretched Whiting a most unexpected fish being ca
• 39 38 GLAsTONbURy TOwN the husk around the ruined abbey At the centre of glastonbury town is the rui
• 41 40 weLLs CATheDRAL built on springs the building of a church beside the great spring at Wells, fi
• 43 42 spRINGs AND hOLy weLLs an island of many waters one of the legends of Glastonbury is that Jose
• 45 44 In the first years of the 20th century the church of england bought the abbey ruins at auction
• 47 46 ChALICe weLL GARDeNs the red spring and the white spring the abundant Red spring, delivering
• 49 48 AsTRONOMy AND GeOMeTRy great order in the landscape the twelve Hides and the seven holy island
• 51 50 A sACReD CeNTRe still a place of pilgrimage today in the early years of the new millennium, G
• 53 52 From the Market Cross in the centre of town, walk all the way up the High Street, turn right a
• 55 54 One must pay an entrance fee to go round the Abbey but one can take as long as one likes durin
• 57 56 GLAsTONbURy wALk V 6 MILes Walton Hill Compton Dundon via Hood Monument This long circular w
• 58 TIMeLINe 3800 BC earliest neolithic trackways across the Avalon Marshes 300 BC Glastonbury Lak