Place:Glastonbury, Somerset, England

NameGlastonbury
Alt namesGlastonbury Abbeysource: medieval abbey just outside the town
Bickerysource: hamlet in borough
Brindhamsource: hamlet in borough
Edgarlysource: hamlet in borough
Northover in Glastonburysource: hamlet in borough
Norwood Parksource: residence for the abbey
TypeAncient parish, Civil parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates51.15°N 2.4°W
Located inSomerset, England
See alsoGlaston Twelve Hides Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Mendip District, Somerset, Englanddistrict in which Glastonbury has been located since 1974


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Glastonbury (#G on map) is civil parish with a town of the same name in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels,23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip District, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 UK census. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from the town of Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age.

Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based in an old tithe barn and Norwood Park (a residence for the abbey now known as Norwood Park Farm), are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Image:Wells Rural 1900 small.png

Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community which attracts people with New Age and Neopagan beliefs, and is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn.

Glastonbury is in the local government district of Mendip, within the county of Somerset. From 1889 to 1974 it was administered as a muncipal borough. In the 19th century and before it was part of the Glaston Twelve Hides Hundred, one of the hundreds or early subdivisions of the county of Somerset. In 1894 the western section of Glastonbury was removed from the parish and formed into the new parish of Sharpham (#10 on map).

Suburbs

Glastonbury covers a wide area and within it are communities with their own names. One is Edgarley, located to the southeast of the centre, there are also Brindham (to the north) and Bickery and Northover (to the west). These have all been redirected here. It should be noted that this is not Northover which is a former parish, now a part of Ilchester.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Glastonbury.

Glastonbury Abbey

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery just outside Glastonbury. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.

The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. The abbey controlled large tracts of the surrounding land and was instrumental in major drainage projects on the Somerset Levels. The abbey was suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII. The last abbot, Richard Whiting (Whyting), was hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor on Glastonbury Tor in 1539.

From at least the 12th century the Glastonbury area has been associated with the legend of King Arthur, a connection promoted by medieval monks who asserted that Glastonbury was Avalon. Christian legends have claimed that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea in the 1st century.

Research Tips

  • GENUKI page on Glastonbury.
  • The first of a series of four articles on Glastonbury from the Victoria History of the Counties of EnglandHistory of the County of Somerset, produced by The Institute of Historical Research.
  • The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. It has an online search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select "Maps and Postcards" from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box).
    The Heritage Centre has an email address: archives@somerset.gov.uk.
  • Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected.
  • Somerset Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
  • Somerset in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
  • Somerset in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Glastonbury. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.