The ruined abbey at the heart of Glastonbury, wrapped in legends of King Arthur and the earliest English Christianity
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Substantial ruinsruined, but plenty survives above ground
Glastonbury Abbey is the ruin in the middle of the town, set in its own parkland. By the Middle Ages it was one of the wealthiest and most powerful monasteries in England, and few English abbeys had more legends attached to them. One story makes it the site of the first Christian church in Britain, founded by Joseph of Arimathea. Another, put about by the monks themselves after a fire, had them finding the graves of King Arthur and Guinevere in the grounds in 1191. Whether or not you believe the stories, pilgrims came here for centuries.
The great church burned down in 1184 and was rebuilt on a grand scale; the tall, broken arches you see today are what’s left of it, along with the Lady Chapel. The end came in 1539, when Henry VIII’s dissolution shut the abbey down and its last abbot, Richard Whiting, was executed on nearby Glastonbury Tor.
A charitable trust now owns the ruins and the parkland around them, in the centre of Glastonbury. It’s an easy place to pair with others: Glastonbury Tor, the hill with the lone tower on top, is a mile east, and the Chalice Well gardens sit at its foot.
More at the National Heritage List entry
