GLASTONBURY
GLASTONBURY IS one of England's earliest
Christian sites and the focus of Arthurian and other
legends. During the Middle Ages town and abbey were at
the administrative heart of the largest estate in the west
of England. (fn. 1) After the abbey's dissolution in 1539 the
piecemeal dispersal of the estate left the town with an
unsatisfactory economic base, and in the late 17th
century it was described as 'very ragged and decayed', (fn. 2)
but it revived in the 18th century through stocking
manufacture. In the 19th century it was a local rail and
market centre; and in the earlier 20th century excavation
of the abbey site revived interest in monasticism, Arthurian studies, drama, and romance, all proving attractive
to visitors. In the later 20th century the town, still with a
significant manufacturing base, was a centre for international tourism, attracting devotees of alternative religious views and lifestyles. It has given its name to a
popular music festival, begun in 1970 but actually
located in Pilton parish. (fn. 3)
The medieval town and abbey lay under the western
slopes of three grouped hills, Edmund or Windmill,
Stone Down, and Tor hills, which form together almost
an island outlier of the Mendip hills. Open arable fields
lay on the slopes or tops of those hills. Meadow and
moor stretched in all directions, but furthest to the
south-east and east, to embrace the hamlet of Edgarley
and the chapelry of West Pennard. Wearyall Hill to the
south-west of the town had a vineyard on its south side
and a park on its north. Further parks were created out
of woodland at Norwood, east of Tor Hill, and at
Sharpham in the extreme west.
The variant spellings of the place name in sources
dating from before c. 1000 form a combination of Celtic
and Saxon elements which indicate an island where
woad grew and people who derived their name from it.
The earliest Welsh form of the name, Yneswytrin, interpreted in the 12th century as 'island of glass (vitrea)',
may in origin equally refer to woad. (fn. 4) The alternative
name Avalon, equated with Glastonbury in the 12th
century, has been interpreted either as a personal name
or as meaning 'island of apples'. (fn. 5)
The boundaries of the ancient parish merged into
marshland in all directions and only began to be defined
as a result of drainage works. The southern limit with
Street and Butleigh may always have followed the river
Brue, which has probably held to its present course since
diversion in the later 13th century. (fn. 6) The line of division
in the north with Wells was established in the mid 14th
century where it followed the evidently canalised
Hartlake river between North Wootton and Batthyngwere, later East Backwear. (fn. 7) That boundary west from
Hartlake Bridge was by the earlier 16th century known
as Fountains Wall, the result of the strengthening of the
river bank. (fn. 8) The eastern boundary with West Pennard, a
convenience in the later 12th century to manage manorial business, was defined in part by an earthwork known
as Ponter's Ball and later was also defined by a ditch and
a pool. (fn. 9) Inclosure in the 18th century defined boundaries across moors hitherto shared with neighbours. (fn. 10)
The ancient ecclesiastical parish of Glastonbury
measured 7,059 a. in 1840. (fn. 11) Small areas were exchanged
with Street in 1883–4 and 1894 and in the second year
the civil parish of Sharpham, to the west, was created
from that part of the ancient parish not included within
the new municipal borough. The area of the borough
and Sharpham together was 7,083 a. in 1901 and was
largely unchanged at 2,668 ha. in 1991. (fn. 12)
At the centre of the parish and dominating the town
are the irregular outcrops of lias clay and silt known as
Edmund or Windmill Hill, Stone Down Hill, and Tor
Hill, the latter reaching 158 m. and crowned by the
tower of the former chapel of St. Michael. (fn. 13) A ridge runs
south-west to Wearyall Hill at just above 100 m. Most of
the town lies below 35 m. on clay and limestone, and
similar clay forms a narrow band around the foot of
Wearyall Hill and spreads east and north of the high
ground to include Edgarley, Havyatt, Norwood, and
Brindham. South, west, and north of the clay lies fertile (fn. 14)
alluvium with areas of peat, mostly between the 25-m.
and 40-m. contour, to the south on Kennard moor, west
at Sharpham and Glastonbury Heath, north-west at
West Backwear and Common moor, and north and
north-east at Hearty moor. (fn. 15)
Communications
The principal land route through the town and parish,
probably until the 19th century, was that between Bristol
and Exeter, described in the 12th century where it
crossed the moor from Wells as an 'inaccessible and
watery track called Sugeweye', then interpreted as 'sow's
way'. (fn. 16) By the end of the 15th century the route was
causewayed, both north of the town after it left the Wells
hamlet of Southway, (fn. 17) and south between the southern
end of Wearyall Hill and Street. (fn. 18) The southern road,
probably dating from the 13th century, replaced an
earlier one, probably of late-Roman date, slightly to the
east, which consisted of a thin layer of concrete on a
timber base, perhaps the original roadway, kept in place
by timber piles, with further piles added to retain a stone
surface above, the whole retained by embankments of
stone and earth. (fn. 19) The main eastern route was the 'great
road going to Pilton' mentioned c. 1235, which was also
in part causewayed. (fn. 20) A north-western route, to Meare
and beyond, was a drove named Ryse in 1631. (fn. 21)
The main road from Wells to Street through the
parish was turnpiked by the Wells Trust under an Act of
1753. It ran from Hartlake Bridge south and south-west
over Edmund Hill, down through Bovetown and High
Street, south along Magdalene Street and Fisher's Hill,
south-west over Wearyall Hill and thence to Street. The
diversion west of Edmund Hill forming the present
Wells Road was made in 1790–2, and the present Street
Road was built in 1821–2. About 1780 the Shepton
Mallet Trust adopted the present Bere Lane, Lambrook
and Chilkwell streets, Coursing Batch, and the road
through Edgarley to West Pennard. The roads of the
Wells Trust were disturnpiked in 1883. (fn. 22) A northern
by-pass was opened in 1995.
The north-western access to the town was principally
by water, the route taken in 1500 by a consignment of
church seats from Bristol via the Brue and Meare Pool to
Madelode Bridge. (fn. 23) The abbey manors of Brent to the
north-west and Pilton and Butleigh to the east and
south-east were also reached by the Brue, (fn. 24) which by
1327 followed a new channel across South moor called
'la Nywe Yo'. (fn. 25) The man-made channel running through
Wearyall park from the Brue to the town, once known as
the abbot's canal, (fn. 26) has been dated to the 10th century (fn. 27)
and was probably a mill leat capable of serving as a
supply route.
Bridges were thus of crucial importance in large parts
of the parish, both on the roads into the town and on
the access routes to the moors. Madelode Bridge,
carrying the road from the Brue and Meare Pool, was
being mended in 1305–6. (fn. 28) Hartlake Bridge, on the
Wells road, was mentioned in 1327. (fn. 29) The present
bridge was rebuilt in 1910. (fn. 30) A wooden bridge which
took an earlier road from Glastonbury southwards over
the Brue (fn. 31) may have been succeeded by one known as
Street bridge in the late 12th century, (fn. 32) and by 1344 as
Pomparles, the pons perilous of the Arthurian legend. (fn. 33)
Pomparles was evidently a substantial stone structure of
three or four arches, part of which might have been
built in the later 14th century, part possibly in the
12th. (fn. 34) It was rebuilt with a single arch in 1828 (fn. 35) and
again c. 1912. (fn. 36) Tanners Weir, later Thomas Ware,
probably replaced Madelode Bridge and was known
alternatively as Coldharbour by 1784. It was originally a
pedestrian crossing of the Brue from Meare formed by
two iron chains erected before the Dissolution. An
evidently wooden bridge replaced the chains in 1598
and that was replaced in the earlier 17th century by the
split trunk of a tree. (fn. 37) Further replacements were built c.
1650 and 1752 and a stone arched bridge succeeded in
1784. (fn. 38) Cow Bridge was built in 1274–5 (fn. 39) to take the
market way from Butleigh over the realigned river
Brue. (fn. 40) It seems to have been rebuilt in the later 17th
century (fn. 41) and again, in stone, in the 1780s, to be
replaced in 1858 by a structure of stone and iron
designed by Richard Carver. (fn. 42) Other medieval bridges
were Berebrigge, referred to in the earlier 15th, (fn. 43) and
the 16th century, (fn. 44) and Aysshynrynebryge c. 1530, the
latter on the boundary with Meare. (fn. 45) By the later 17th
century the eastern arm of the Brue was crossed by
Northover, Benedict, and Northlode bridges. (fn. 46)
FIG. 6. Glastonbury parish in 1844
FIG. 7. The opening of the Glastonbury canal, 1833
Glastonbury canal, linking the town with the river
Brue and Highbridge across Shapwick Heath, was
opened in 1833. (fn. 47) It was sold to the Bristol and Exeter
Railway in 1848 but continued in use until 1853 and was
closed in 1854. It was replaced by the Somerset Central
railway whose track ran along the canal bank, continuing the link with Highbridge (fn. 48) but with intended extensions to Burnham for channel crossings to Cardiff, and
to Wells and Castle Cary. At the opening of the track to
Glastonbury in 1854 the fear of disturbance to the town
by excursion trains was voiced. (fn. 49) The extension to Wells,
in the original broad gauge, was opened in 1859 when
work had also begun on a standard gauge track towards
Cole near Bruton. (fn. 50) When Cole was reached in 1862
Glastonbury was linked with the south coast via the
Dorset Central railway which, merged with the Somerset
Central, became the Somerset and Dorset Joint railway.
Through trains between Burnham and Poole ran only
for ten years and after 1874 the company's main route
ran from Bournemouth to Bath, avoiding Glastonbury. (fn. 51)
The town's station, near the basin of the canal,
remained, however, a junction for the Wells line. The
Wells branch was closed in 1951 and the main line
between Highbridge and Evercreech in 1966. (fn. 52) The platform awning was moved to the town centre to serve as
covering for market stalls. (fn. 53)
Population
Sixty-two households were recorded in 1086. (fn. 54) The town
and parish were not separately distinguished from
Glastonbury Twelve Hides hundred in 1327, nor was the
town taxed as other towns in the later 14th century. (fn. 55) In
1539 there were 113 men described as able to serve the
king, together with 14 bondmen. (fn. 56) In 1548 there were
700 communicants (fn. 57) and in 1563 297 households. (fn. 58) In
1641 458 men signed the Protestation (fn. 59) and at some
other date in the 17th century the number of households
was 265. (fn. 60) About 1785 there were 360 houses. (fn. 61)
In 1801 the population was 2,035. The total rose
gradually until 1841, fell slightly in the next decade, but
thereafter rose again slowly, reaching 4,215 in 1891. A
slight fall over the next ten years was succeeded by
increases, small until 1951 and thereafter growing, the
largest between 1981 and 1991 when the total rose from
6,751 usually resident to 7,942. (fn. 62)
Early Settlement
There is no direct evidence of permanent settlement
within the parish until the 6th century. Flints from the
Upper Palaeolithic, Neolithic polished axes, and the
suggestion that the Tor might be a Neolithic maze place
Glastonbury within the general context of the
surrounding prehistoric sites, and the marsh-edge
seasonal settlement known as the Glastonbury Lake
Village, found in 1892, parallels the similar settlements
at Meare, all dating to the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Ponter's Ball has been variously interpreted as an
Iron-Age cross-ridge dyke defending a territorium or the
boundary of a sanctuary whose centre was the Tor.
There may have been Roman buildings on the abbey site
and elsewhere in the parish, but the balance of opinion
points to the Tor as the site of a monastery of the late 5th
or the early 6th century, succeeded by a second foundation nearby and later by the monastery on the present
site. (fn. 63) The Mound, to the west of the later town, was
formerly identified as a castle but subsequently as a site
of sporadic occupation in post-Roman and early medieval times; (fn. 64) and Beckery, a little further west and a settlement centred on a chapel dating from the post-Roman
or Anglo-Saxon period, (fn. 65) both demonstrate the use of
'island' sites on the edge of marshland.