Glastonbury

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Glastonbury, a Somerset market town c.30 miles south of Bristol, is distinguished by a conical hill, Glastonbury Tor, rising out of the Somerset levels. Noted for its Iron Age lake village settlements, its magnificent medieval Benedictine abbey was a centre of pilgrimage, inspired by a complex of legends about Arthur, Joseph of Arimathea, the young Jesus, and the Holy Grail. A monastery existed here at least from the 6th cent., and in the 10th cent. under Dunstan was the centre of vigorous monastic reform. In 1184 fire destroyed the abbey. The monks, by skilful use of the legends and newly discovered relics, raised funds to rebuild on a glorious scale. At the abbey's dissolution (1539), Abbot Whiting was hanged on the Tor.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

Glastonbury , town (1991 pop. 6,751), Somerset, SW England. It has a leather industry, but Glastonbury is famous for its religious associations and many legends. One legend tells that St. Joseph of Arimathea founded the first Christian church in England there. On Wearyall Hill he rested his staff, which rooted and became the Glastonbury thorn, blooming annually on Christmas Eve. Another story identifies Glastonbury as the Isle of Avalon of Arthurian legend. Glastonbury Abbey was a center of learning and an object of pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. Extensive remains of an Iron Age lake village have been found nearby.

Glastonbury. Small town in Somerset with ruined medieval abbey that has extensive Arthurian associations; one of several candidates as the model for both Avalon and Camelot. Artefacts testify to Celtic settlement in the La Tène era, but Glastonbury was also the site of the oldest British Christian community. Known as Ynys Wydrin/ Gutrin/ Witrin [glass island] through a fanciful etymology in early Welsh and also as Ynys Afallon [apple island] in Modern Welsh.

Bibliography

See John Scott , The Early History of Glastonbury (Woodbridge, UK, 1981).
R. F. Traharne , The Glastonbury Legends (London, 1967).

Glastonbury, in Somerset, the abbey of which was said to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea, according to the Grail legends. William of Malmesbury suggests that it may have been one of the first Christianized areas in England, founded by French monks. Giraldus Cambrensis tells the story of the discovery there by the monks of the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere in the 1180s, confirming the story of ‘a certain Breton poet’ who, according to Henry II, said they were buried there. This led to the identification of Glastonbury with Avalon.

Glastonbury a town in Somerset which is the legendary burial place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, and the site of a ruined abbey held by legend to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea. It was identified in medieval times with the mythical Avalon.
Glastonbury thorn a winter-flowering form of hawthorn, said to have sprung up at Glastonbury from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea; it is traditionally said to flower on Christmas Day according to the Old Style calendar.

Glastonbury, UK, USA UK (England): the previous name, Glæstingeberia, meant ‘Stronghold of the People living at Glaston’. Glaston itself may mean ‘Woad Place’ or ‘Place where Woad grew’ from the Celtic glas ‘woad’ and the Old English ‐inga‐, now ‐ton, to give ‘Place of the Woad People’. ‘Place’ was strengthened by adding burh.

Glastonbury, a Somerset market town, is distinguished by a conical hill, Glastonbury Tor. Noted for its Iron Age lake village settlements, its magnificent medieval Benedictine abbey was a centre of pilgrimage, inspired by a complex of legends about Arthur, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Holy Grail. A monastery existed here at least from the 6th cent. At the abbey's dissolution (1539), Abbot Whiting was hanged on the Tor.

Glastonbury town (1990 pop. 27,901), Hartford co., central Conn., a suburb of Hartford on the Connecticut River; inc. 1690. Located near a farming region, the town has industries that include dairying, fruit processing, poultry research and breeding, and light manufacturing. Several 17th-century houses still stand in Glastonbury, which was the birthplace of American politician Gideon Welles .

Glastonbury. In Somerset, one of the oldest English monasteries. Its history goes back to the 7th cent., but it became a famous Benedictine centre from c.940 under its abbot St Dunstan. About 1135 William of Malmesbury wrote its history, and in a 13th-cent. revision of this are the legends which associate it with Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur, and St Patrick.

Glastonbury Somerset. Glastingburi 725, Glæstingeberia 1086 (DB). ‘Stronghold of the people living at Glaston’. Celtic name (possibly meaning ‘woad place’) + OE -inga- + burh (dative byrig).

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