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Joseph of Arimathæa

The sites and sights  of Glastonbury  Written by   Sig Lonegren   with Palden Jenkins, Liz Pearson and the Friends of Bride's Mound

Pilgrimage and Glastonbury are synonymous.

Joseph of Arimathæa (some say he was Jesus's uncle) was an early pilgrim to Glastonbury. In his search to buy tin and lead, he discovered this Isle of Glass (Ynys Witrin) – Glastonbury. William Blake, in his moving hymn Jerusalem, suggested that Joseph brought Jesus here before his ministry began.

Glastonbury had been sacred site for millennia. At the time of Joseph's arrival, it was sacred to the Druids. It is said that these Celtic wise men had one of their perpetual choirs here – a choir working twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, enchanting the land. Since St. Joseph's time, pilgrims have been drawn to Glastonbury for many different reasons.

Glastonbury Abbey was a major attraction, and Arthurian connections to the Isle of Avalon add to its drawing power.

In the first half of the 20th Century, Alice Buckton, a mystic and owner of the Chalice Well before the present Chalice Well Trust, developed a pilgrimage route to guide seekers to many of the sacred sites of Glastonbury. Today, eighty years later, pilgrims still come to experience the spirit of Glastonbury - in ever greater numbers.

Glastonbury

Glastonbury has been a place of sanctity and pilgrimage for several thousand years.

Glastonbury Tor, with its single tower, dominates the area, sticking up well above the flat Somerset Levels. The Levels or 'Moors' are at, or a bit below, sea level.

Early occupation

It is not clear when the Glastonbury area was first occupied. The Sweet Track (dated exactly to 3806 BCE) is the oldest marsh walkway known in the world. It's not far from Meare, a former island NW of Glastonbury. The first people we know occupied Ynys Witrin, or the Isle of Glass or 'seeing', were the Celtic Druids. But Glastonbury Tor is so prominent that, when people first occupied the area at least 12,000 years ago, they will certainly have come here.

Druids

It is said that Glastonbury (at that time an island rising above the submerged Levels) was the location of one of three Druidic perpetual choirs. The other two were said to be on the islands of Anglesey (NW Wales), and Iona (off Mull on the west coast of Scotland). These eternal choirs made music twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. They literally enchanted the land.

Joseph and the first Christians

According to tradition, in 37 AD, Joseph of Arimathaea, an Essene who provided Christ with his tomb and protected him during his mission, came here after the Crucifixion as a refugee. He set foot onto Ynys Witrin on Wearyall Hill, where he planted his Jerusalem Thorn staff and rested his feet from the long journey. The staff took root and sprouted branches, and a descendant of that tree still grows on Wearyall Hill to this day.

Joseph and his twelve acolytes founded and built the world's first purpose-built Christian church here, on the site of the oldest part of the Abbey at the western end. Some even say that Mary Madgelene came here. Hence that the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches recognise Glastonbury as 'the primary church of the West', superior to Rome. Rome doesn't agree.

But before going into all that, let's visit Wearyall Hill...

Wearyall Hill

When visiting Glastonbury, if you seek to have an overview of the island, its surrounding Moors, and all of Glastonbury's holy hills, then visit Wearyall Hill. This is where guided tours around Glastonbury tend to start.

This isn't the highest hill in Glastonbury, yet it affords fine views of Avalon and its surrounds.

Joseph of Arimathæa

Legend has it that Joseph landed here, rested on his staff, and it sprouted branches and leaves. This old shamanistic tradition indicates that 'this is the place'. The chances are that Glastonbury was well known at the time, and that he had either been invited here or knew it could be a refuge, amongst people who would understand the early Christians' plight. Tradition has it that he was a rich metals trader who traded with Britain for tin from Cornwall and lead from the Mendip Hills just north of Glastonbury.

Panorama over Avalon

From Wearyall Hill you can see over the town and the Abbey. You can see the other holy hills of Glastonbury too: from the right, the Tor, Chalice Hill and St Edmund's Hill (nowadays called Windmill Hill). You can see the extent of the Isle of Avalon and its surrounding, once-marshy Levels, which made it an island in ancient times.

Sailing to Glastonbury

People could approach Glastonbury from the sea by boat up to late medieval times. The old River Brue (it has now been re-routed along a more direct route to the sea) flowed close in to Wearyall Hill on its south side, then swung round its western end to meander past Bride's Mound, then the Glastonbury Lake Village, Godney, Panborough Hill, Martinsey, Nyland, Brent Knoll and finally Brean Down – a two-day journey by boat to the sea. (More about these places in the Sacred Sites section on this site).

The Somerset Levels

Since about 900 CE sea levels have been sinking, and between the 1600s and the mid-1900s the Levels were incrementally drained to favour farming and peat-digging. In three directions around Wearyall Hill, you can see the flat 'Moors', which once were water and marshes. With likely 21st Century sea-level rises, the Moors might again become flooded. In winter, after prolonged rain downpours, the Levels flood again for a while.

To the west you can see the marshy woodlands of the Levels. If you get hold of a bicycle, you can ride down an excellent bike-track west of Glastonbury into the Levels and what are now an impressive series of wetland nature reserves, with thousands of birds in residence. Click here to see the bike ride on the Levels.

Next stop on this Pilgrim's Trail is Glastonbury Abbey...

Glastonbury Abbey

St Mary's Chapel marks the site of Joseph of Arimathæa's original church, the first above-ground church in all Christendom. Glastonbury Abbey is also the only place that claims King Arthur's grave. It was found in the the Abbey cemetery during rebuilding of the church after a disastrous fire in 1184.

Jesus

The Celts had a deity named Easus who died and came back to life. When the Druids heard about Jesus from Joseph of Arimathæa, they saw the return of Easus in the story, and they gave part of Ynys Witrin to him. Here Joseph built the first above-ground Christian church in all of Christendom. There is also an unverified tradition that Joseph brought Jesus here as a young man, during the 'lost years'. As a result the local Druids might well have recognised their later hosting of the exiled Joseph and his followers as a significant act.

England's holyest earthe

This was a birthplace of Celtic Christianity – the Culdees or 'wanderers'. It grew to be a major site of pilgrimage for Christians. In the High Middle Ages it hosted a large library and was visited by spiritual and religious people of many kinds. It became so powerful that, when Henry VIII closed the Catholic Church in England and created the Anglican Church, he had to send his men to Glastonbury to find a pretext to take over the Abbey's land. The Abbey was closed down two years later than all the other monasteries in England.

The end of the Abbey

Henry's men found a chalice in Abbot Whiting's office. They said that it should have been in the king's treasury, so Abbot Whiting was accused of stealing it. They hanged him on trumped-up charges and then drew and quartered this unfortunate Abbot, on top of the Tor. After that, the Abbey treasure was taken and the building fell into ruin – helped by the locals who used the dressed stone for their own building purposes. At first an act of protest against centuries of subservience and service to the Abbey, many locals supported the dissolution of the Abbey, only to regret it when they experienced economic disaster in the area and a new subservience to the king's men.

Politics

One theory has it that Henry VIII sought relics of the chalice and the blood and sweat of Jesus held at Glastonbury, to verify England's primacy over Rome. This was high-level power-politics, a coup against Papal influence in European politics. The Abbot refused to yield these relics – it is said they were concealed in South Somerset and have been so to this day. So he had to be got rid of – he was seen as a traitor against the state.

Archaeological excavation

The Abbey remained derelict and in private ownership for 350 years until the Church of England acquired it in 1906. Church architect Frederick Bligh Bond of Bristol was hired to dig at Glastonbury Abbey. His discoveries were amazing, including the unexpected Edgar Chapel at the head of the Abbey. His success was due to a series of psychic 'automatic writings' in which Bond communicated through a friend of his with a thirteenth century monk, who spoke to him about the layout of the Abbey and grounds. Bond wrote about this in a book called The Gate Of Remembrance, published in 1918 (still available).

Unfortunately for him, he very quickly lost his job and was not often hired as an ecclesiastical architect after that. Bond also designed the vesica pisces lid on the Chalice Well – a symbol for Glastonbury, signifying the interlocking of the female and the male, of matter and spirit.

Today the Abbey is a pilgrimage site for all who come to Glastonbury. Its grounds are beautifully kept, and it is a place of silent meditation for all who enter. In a sense, the break-up of the Christian church and the later planting of an arboretum in the Abbey grounds has restored something of its former glory as a pre-Christian sacred grove.

The Abbot's Kitchen

The Abbot's Kitchen

This is the only intact building left over from the days of the Abbey, which closed in the 1530s. After the Dissolution, Glastonbury became a hotbed for Protestant Puritan radicals, some of whom were quite extreme. The Abbot's Kitchen was for a while used as a Quaker meeting house until the Quakers were forcibly ejected from Glastonbury, moving over the river Brue to found the neighbouring town of Street. Street later became a factory town for a Quaker shoemaking company, Clarks.

Apart from being an interesting medieval catering establishment, the Abbot's Kitchen is nowadays a wonderful chamber for toning, singing and chanting. Try it! The apex of the domed ceiling is on the left.

Glastonbury Abbey was England's most sanctified spot in medieval times, and a European-scale pilgrimage place. It's a most enchanting place. A visit to the crypt (below) is well worth it. A place to calm down, contemplate, pray and get to the heart of things. The same is true for the Chalice Well...

The Chalice Well

Here you will find a place of beauty, peace, and healing. Pilgrims of all kinds have come to this special place from time immemorial. The waters of this holy well are known for their healing effect and for its connection with the Earth Mother, by dint of its red waters (signifying menstrual blood).

There are many special places to visit in this garden. The wellhead is at the top of the garden. The first spot you reach when you enter at the bottom of the garden is the vesica pisces shaped pool water water flowing into it through a series of flow forms.

Vesica Pisces

The vesica pisces is a sacred geometrical symbol in which the circumference of one circle passes through the centre of another identical circle. The bit in the middle is the vesica. Geometrically, this is the basis for establishing the sacred proportions of the Golden Mean. Extend one end of the vesica and you get a fish – the symbol in Roman times that you were a Christian.

The top half of the vesica made the Gothic arch used in medieval church-building. Many ancient stone circles in Britain were laid out using a the same mathematical principle.

The Vesica Yew

Just up the hill from the Vesica Pool, on the right next to a door in the wall, is an old yew tree that has grown apart at the base and then grown together again about six feet higher up. This vulvic shape is sacred to the Goddess, and many visitors see these waters as her blood spring.

King Arthur's Courtyard

The next area of the garden is called King Arthur's Courtyard. It has long been a place of healing. The bathing pool is nowadays shallow, but in the nineteenth century it was deeper, allowing for total immersion. The courtyard is now a fine place of quiet contemplation, with the sound of falling water creating a soothing background. If you want to sense fairies, this is the place – but you must quieten yourself and go within to do so.

The Lion's Head

The Chalice Well nestles at the base of Glastonbury Tor. You can see the tower of the Tor through the trees from the Well. Higher up from King Arthur's Court is the Lion's Head, where you are welcome to drink of these waters. It is always a place of special prayers and personal ceremony. When you drink this water it soaks right through you, washing out parts of you that other waters do not.

The Holy Thorn

The tree above the Lion's Head is a scion of the Holy Thorn tree (Crateagus Monogyna Praecox) that Joseph of Arimathæa brought from the Holy Land. The Holy Thorn is what remains of his staff, 1,900 years later! This species normally lives in Lebanon.

The Holy Thorn flowers around the time of the former Christmas festival in early January. It sprouts berries and flowers at the same time. It is as if both birth and death, flower and fruit, can happen at the same moment. Birth lies within death – transformation. There are several Holy Thorns around Glastonbury, the best-known being on Wearyall Hill and in the Abbey.

Just a short stroll above the Lion's Head is the goal of our pilgrimage, the Chalice Well itself.

The Well Head

The vesica pisces on the lid of Chalice Well was designed by the excavator of Glastonbury Abbey, Frederick Bligh Bond, resident archaeologist of Glastonbury Abbey around 1910. It was given to the Chalice Well as a thanks-offering for peace in 1919, at the end of World War One, by friends of the Well and of Glastonbury. It symbolises the interlocking of the male and female, the light and dark – a favourite Glastonbury theme. The Chalice Well Trust carries on this philosophy today, and the gardens are open to individuals of all spiritual paths.

The waters

The waters of the Chalice Well have never been known to fail. It was the only source that kept on working consistently through the drought of 1921-22 and recent droughts in the early 1990s. Under Bligh Bond's lid, 25,000 gallons of water gush upwards to the surface every day, filling several man-made, room-sized subterranean chambers.

For millennia, both Christians, pagans and followers of many other spiritual paths from many lands have come to this holy place to seek healing, new vision and renewal. Come visit the garden yourself, taste the water and take time to be in the silence and enjoy the beauty.

This is but one of the sacred places on the Isle of Glass where you can truly experience the spirit of Glastonbury. Another is at Bride's Mound...

Bride's Well Stone, taken at the time the stone was erected by Tudor Pole in the early 1900s

Bride's Mound

Bride's Mound is a tiny little mound to the west of Glastonbury, at Beckery, just near the foot of Wearyall Hill. Tiny it may be, but its history is great, for legend has it that it was a gateway to Avalon where pilgrims, arriving by boat from Ireland and Wales, would stay in vigil through the night, before passing on up the processional way to Avalon.

Arthur is said to have had a vision of the great Goddess here, and Mary with her son, and St. Brigid of Ireland are said to have stayed here. Hence the link with Bride (Brighde, Brigid).

Proposed Reconstruction of the Sanctuary A few women in Glastonbury have for a long time been concerned about the derelict state of Bride's Mound and felt that a sanctuary should be recreated there. Just recently, spurred on by the threat of major development in the nearby abandoned sheepskin factory, they formed a group called Friends of Brides Mound and approached various organisations with their ideas. Proposed Sanctuary plan by the Friends of Bride's Mound It is proposed that this site, which has been held sacred over many centuries, should once again have a sanctuary created. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a wattle and daub timber shrine prior to the medieval stone chapel and our proposal is to recreate a shrine within a garden of herbs and an orchard using permaculture principles. Both herb garden and orchard are traditional to a monastic garden. If possible, there could also be beehives, in keeping with the name Beckery (the old name of the mound) meaning 'beekeepers' island'. The resulting produce should be sufficient to pay for the upkeep of the site.  Traditional willow fencing will separate the orchard from the herb garden and sanctuary and from the nearby sewerage works. It is also suggested that the neighbouring orchard on the site of the sewerage works be reclaimed to the mound, given special status, and that an archaeological dig should occur there, since this is an integral part of the mound. Ideally, it would be good to move the sewerage works to a more appropriate site! Further, that another neighbouring field stretching towards the river Brue be surveyed for possible archaeological interest, and that the site of the spring be found.

St Bridget

William of Malmesbury, writing circa 1135, and John of Glastonbury, writing circa 1400, both describe traditions that St. Bridget visited Glastonbury in 488 AD, spending time at Bride's Mound, where there was an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Relics of hers were left at Bride's Mound where they were displayed in the chapel. Both writers implied that these relics were still at Bride's Mound at the time of their writing.

Beckery

William of Malmesbury and John of Glastonbury both state that a charter of 670 recorded the granting of lands at Beckery, where Bride's Mound is located. Beckery is also known locally as Little Ireland, though the true derivation of the name is Beo Cere, 'beekeepers island'.

A papal charter of 1168 refers to Beckery as the first of the islands in the Abbey's estate. John of Glastonbury also mentioned a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget which had a special opening in the southern wall which healed those who passed through it.  The fields around are still called 'the Brides'.

King Arthur

John of Glastonbury stated that on Wearyall Hill there was 'a monastery of holy virgins' - the first reference to a women's community in the area. He then related a story concerning the visit of King Arthur to Beckery, at which he had a vision of Mary and her son Jesus. At this time a hermit lived on the mound and officiated as priest. As a result of this vision King Arthur became a Christian and changed his coat of arms from a red dragon to one showing Mary and Child.

The Womens' Quarter

Legend also relates that this area used to be called the 'women's quarter' because a community of women lived on Bride's Mound after the visit by St Brigid, and a perpetual fire was kept there. In 2004 the flame from the perpetual fire at Kildare in Ireland was brought back to Glastonbury, where it is kept alive today, awaiting the restoration of Bride's Mound.

Wellesley Tudor Pole's father at Bride's Well

Processional Way

An Arthurian legend recounts how pilgrims who passed over Pomparles Bridge (the Perilous Way – now the road between Glastonbury and Street, which used to be an oak causeway), had to spend all night in vigil at the chapel before they could pass up the processional way to the holy Isle of Avalon. Bride's Mound was held to be the gateway to Avalon, and the processional way went from there via the Iron Age 'Castle' mount (now destroyed by development) and St Benignus' (Benedict's) church.

St Bride's Well

There is also said to have been a spring called St Bride's Well which in the 1920s was marked by a stone and a thorn tree on which women would tie rags, as is still the custom in Cornwall. People threw objects into the well for good luck. This stone has now been moved to a place close by the river.

Excavations

There has been one major excavation of the mound, by Philip Rahtz in the 1960s, funded by the Chalice Well Trust. This is what they found.

There is very little evidence from the Neolithic and Iron Age periods apart from some flints and some pottery, similar to that found in the nearby Lake Villages. One theory is that there were jetties along the north side of the island where the lake village people landed their boats.

There were some Roman coins, bronze items and tiles, suggesting that the mound was in continuous use throughout Roman times.

The archaeological finds of pre Saxon graves at Bride's Mound. The short straight lines with a circle in them are graves - only one was within the sanctuary. (Used with kind permission of the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society)

During the Romano-British, Arthurian and early Saxon eras there is evidence of post holes from substantial timber, wattle-and-daub structures. The dating is around 650-900 AD. There are also many burials.

The later Saxon chapel was built around this, suggesting the timber structure was still in use when the stone chapel was built. This suggests that the mound was in constant use and considered to be a holy place. Although there is no archaeological evidence for the period from the end of Roman times (c400 AD) to around 650 the fact that it was used both before and after suggests that the mound has probably been in continuous use since the Neolithic.

There is evidence of domestic occupation during this period, with remains of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, suggesting a small community lived on the mound.

During the later Saxon era, around 930, a stone chapel and an adjacent house, called the Priests' House, was built. It was used until the 1200s, when a new Norman chapel was built. There is no evidence of a community during this period – merely one caretaker-hermit-priest tending to the chapel. This appears to have been abandoned after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.

For further information, visit the Friends of Bride's Mound site.

St Margaret's Chapel

and the Magdalene Hospital / Almshouses

also known as the Magdalene Chapel

St Margaret's Chapel is a very special little chapel off Magdalene Street - part of a former medieval complex outside the Abbey, which served as a hospital and almshouses for the poor.

It is nowadays a revered place for less conventional Christians and for followers of the Magdalene as an aspect of the Goddess. It and its garden have a peaceful atmosphere of sanctity.

Foundation

The Hospital of St Mary Magdalene may have been founded as early as 1264. It was founded "of the gift and foundation of the Abbots of Glastonbury" to house ten poor men before 1322, and was known as the Royal Hospital after the dissolution of the monastery in the 1520s. The poor were financed by grants from the Crown by a reserve on rents called the King's Audit.

The Hall

The open roofed hall had a central passageway and wooden cubicles on each side. The chapel is off-centre. This may be because the hall was replaced by a narrower one or that the chapel was built first and the hall plans changed after.

After the dissolution, the roof of the hall was removed, and two rows of almshouses were built with upper and lower rooms. A dining room was situated at the chapel end with part converted into an eleventh house. The Chapel, the eastern wall and gable and the lower part of the western gable survive today.

Alms

Residents were given 7 pence a week which rose to 9 pence as a result of a gift of rent charge of £6.2s.6d on the Crown Inn. Half a crown (2 shillings and six pence or 25 pence today) was kept for wine for the trustees if they attended the feast day of the Annunciation or the Feast of Michael the Archangel, when allowances were paid to the poor. The incumbent of Glastonbury had an allowance to perform services in the Chapel.

Nineteenth Century

By 1817 the houses were described as dilapidated and could not be made fit to serve as dwellings for 'decent persons'. They were also too close to each other for maintaining cleanliness and health. There were eleven residents - the eleventh was known as the 'Hall Pensioner' as he received no pay but lived in the former hall and succeeded to the next vacancy on the pay list.

In the early 19th Century the eleven houses were converted into five dwellings plus a wash house. In 1958 they were derelict and one row of the houses was demolished. Some Glastonbury residents can still recall when local men lived in the almshouses.

The other row and the Chapel were repaired and exist as you see them today.

The Chapel

The Chapel has features dating to the 1200s and 1400s, although the lancet window in the chapel may have an earlier date. The present buildings were begun in 1400s and by 1610 were described as 'ancient'.

The Chapel was again restored in 1968. It was served from St Benedict's (formerly Benignus) church, Glastonbury.

St Margaret is depicted in the bellcote. This may indicate that the hospital was formerly for sick women rather than men. The Chapel is named after her.

Let yourself sit quietly in the chapel, a place of contemplation and prayer. It is a wonderful place to visit if you need to calm down and collect yourself in a supportive, feminine spiritual atmosphere.

This is the end of our pilgrimage trail.

There are many other magical places in this special pilgrimage town – it's a matter of coming here and moseying round – taste it for yourself!

Glastonbury is not just a historic, spiritually-stimulating place though – it's a living town with a big mixture of people, a town treading on the tail of the new millennium.

You might have wondered why the Tor isn't covered in this Pilgrims' Trail. Simple reason: there's a whole section devoted to it! Click here for Glastonbury Tor!

Or click any link on the left.

May the Spirit
of Avalon
Be With You!

This Pilgrim's Trail was written by Sig Lonegren in 1998, and set up and adapted by Barry Hoon and Palden Jenkins. Revised 2006. Photographers include Sarah Boait, Will Glenn, Lesley Delamont, Kevin Redpath, Liz Pearson and Palden Jenkins. Thanks to all of you.