Glastonbury - Abbey

Records indicate that a monastery was first founded in Glastonbury in 601. Another followed around 700 founded by Ine, King of the West Saxons. St Dunstan (924-988) who was first a monk and later abbot of this monastery built the first stone church. He is buried here together with the Saxon kings Edmund (d. 975) and Edmund Ironside (d. 1016). A new Norman church built 1120 was destroyed by fire in 1184. The church underwent expansion between 1186 and the 16th century.

In 1539 Henry VIII had the last abbot of the abbey, Richard Whiting hanged on Glastonbury Tor and the monastery destroyed.

Of the once giant monastery church of St Peter and Paul (580ft/177m long) the Late-Norman (1184-1186) St Mary's Chapel with its interlaced vaulting, doorways decorated with figures and the Joseph Crypt has been more or less preserved. Also remaining are the Galilei Chapel (early 13th century) and the massive fragments of two crossing tower columns among beautiful trees. A setting in the choir marks the site of King Arthur's grave following the "discovery" of the bones by resourceful relic collectors in 1191 and their removal in 1218 to the choir where they rested until the monastery was dissolved in 1539.

Of the living quarters the large conical Abbot's Kitchen has remained unscathed (1435-1440) with the remains of four fireplaces. A small museum contains a model of the grounds of the monastery and other architectural exhibits.