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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Glastonbury
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(8000 in 1991)
Town in Somerset which was of importance in early English Christianity and which has a leading role in both Christian and Arthurian legend. The *Benedictine abbey appears to have been founded before the Anglo-Saxon period. It prospered greatly and is recorded in the *Domesday Book as having the lordship of manors in five counties. The main feature of the ruins now is the very striking 14C Abbot's Kitchen, with its pointed octagonal stone roof.
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In the 13C there first appears the legend that Joseph of Arimathea (the rich Jew in the Gospels who arranges for the burial of Jesus) had come to Glastonbury with the *Holy Grail. An even later story says that the Glastonbury thorn, which supposedly flowers each Christmas, sprang from Joseph's staff. The town also has its Arthurian legends. In 1191 bones were discovered which were believed to be those of *Arthur and *Guinevere. They were reburied before the altar of the abbey church in the presence of *Edward I, and from then on Glastonbury was widely held to have been *Avalon.
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The town's air of satisfying mystery is completed by the Glastonbury Tor, a weirdly conical hill which rises steeply nearby. And an informal pop concert held in 1970 has developed into a three-day Glastonbury Festival of rock music each summer, with the visitors creating a temporary township of tents.
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