GLASTONBURY

glastonbury, a market town and municipal borough in the eastern parliamentary division of somersetshire, england, on the main road from london to exeter, 37 m. s.w. of bath by the somerset & dorset railway. pop. (1901) 4016. the town lies in the midst of orchards and water-meadows, reclaimed from the fens which encircled glastonbury tor, a conical height once an island, but now, with the surrounding flats, a peninsula washed on three sides by the river brue. the town is famous for its abbey, the ruins of which are fragmentary, and as the work of destruction has in many places descended to the very foundations it is impossible to make out the details of the plan. of the vast range of buildings for the accommodation of the monks hardly any part remains except the abbot's kitchen, noteworthy for its octagonal interior (the exterior plan being square, with the four corners filled in with fireplaces and chimneys), the porter's lodge and the abbey barn. considerable portions are standing of the so-called chapel of st joseph at the west end, which has been identified with the lady chapel, occupying the site of the earliest church. this chapel, which is the finest part of the ruins, is transitional work of the 12th century. it measures about 66 ft. from east to west and about 36 from north to south. below the chapel is a crypt of the 15th century inserted beneath a building which had no previous crypt. between the chapel and the great church is an early english building which appears to have served as a galilee porch. the church itself was a cruciform structure with a choir, nave and transepts, and a tower surmounting the centre of intersection. from east to west the length was 410 ft. and the breadth of the nave was about 80 ft. the nave had ten bays and the choir six. of the nave three bays of the south side are still standing, and the windows have pointed arches externally and semicircular arches internally. two of the tower piers and a part of one arch give some indication of the grandeur of the building. the foundations of the edgar chapel, discovered in 1908, make the whole church the longest of cathedral or monastic churches in the country. the old clock, presented to the abbey by adam de sodbury (1322-1335), and noteworthy as an early example of a clock striking the hours automatically with a count-wheel, was once in wells cathedral, but is now preserved in the victoria and albert museum. the glastonbury thorn, planted, according to the legend, by joseph of arimathea, has been the object of considerable comment. it is said to be a distinct variety, flowering twice a year. the actual thorn visited by the pilgrims was destroyed about the reformation time, but specimens of the same variety are still extant in various parts of the country. the chief buildings, apart from the abbey, are the church of st john baptist, perpendicular in style, with a fine tower and some 15th-century monuments; st benedict's, dating from 1493-1524; st john's hospital, founded 1246; and the george inn, built in the time of henry vii. or viii. the present stone cross replaced a far finer one of great age, which had fallen into decay. the antiquarian museum contains an excellent collection, including remains from a prehistoric village of the marshes, discovered in 1892, and consisting of sixty mounds within a space of five acres. there is a roman catholic missionaries' college. in the 16th century the woollen industry was introduced by the duke of somerset; and silk manufacture was carried on in the 18th century. tanning and tile-making, and the manufacture of boots and sheep-skin rugs are practised. the town is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. area, 5000 acres. the lake-village discovered in 1892 proves that there was a celtic settlement about 300-200 b.c. on an island in the midst of swamps, and therefore easily defensible. british earthworks and roman roads and relics prove later occupation. the name of glastonbury, however, is of much later origin, being a corruption of the saxon _glaestyngabyrig_. by the britons the spot seems to have been called ynys yr afalon (latinized as avallonia) or ynysvitrin (see avalon), and it became the local habitation of various fragments of celtic romance. according to the legends which grew up under the care of the monks, the first church of glastonbury was a little wattled building erected by joseph of arimathea as the leader of the twelve apostles sent over to britain from gaul by st philip. about a hundred years later, according to the same authorities, the two missionaries, phaganus and deruvianus, who came to king lucius from pope eleutherius, established a fraternity of anchorites on the spot, and after three hundred years more st patrick introduced among them a regular monastic life. the british monastery founded about 601 was succeeded by a saxon abbey built by ine in 708. from the decadent state into which glastonbury was brought by the danish invasions it was recovered by dunstan, who had been educated within its walls and was appointed its abbot about 946. the church and other buildings of his erection remained till the installation, in 1082, of the first norman abbot, who inaugurated the new epoch by commencing a new church. his successor herlewin (1101-1120), however, pulled it down to make way for a finer structure. henry of blois (1126-1172) added greatly to the extent of the monastery. in 1184 (on 25th may) the whole of the buildings were laid in ruins by fire; but henry ii. of england, in whose hands the monastery then was, entrusted his chamberlain rudolphus with the work of restoration, and caused it to be carried out with much magnificence. the great church of which the ruins still remain was then erected. in the end of the 12th century, and on into the following, glastonbury was distracted by a strange dispute, caused by the attempt of savaric, the ambitious bishop of bath, to make himself master of the abbey. the conflict was closed by the decision of innocent