Great Britains Past and Present

The architectural style of the buildings are Romanesque and Gothic.

One of the first things you notice when you visit the ruins is the Black modern cross, this was given as a gift by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the inscription on the Cross reads;

The Cross a symbol of our faith.  The gift of Queen Elizabeth II marks a Christian sanctuary so ancient that only legend can record it’s origin

Lady Chapel

This building remains most intact on the site it is also thought as the most important. Consecrated 1189. Built in Romanesque style with stone work decoration which was sourced from the nearby Mendip Hills, the stone work is also highlight with the local Blue lias stone.

The magnificent main portal of the Lady Chapel is richly decorated with four orders of carved figures and designs, now badly worn due to the elements but as you can see enough remains to give you the idea of how this stonework would have looked at the time of it’s living.

The crypt of the Lady Chapel was inserted around 1500 by Abbot Beere, for which the floor level had to be raised. It is said that during the excavations the bodies of saints were disturbed! The crypt was dedicated to to Joseph of Arimathea.

At the east end  of the Lady Chapel the crypt extends under the Galilee porch of the Great Church, providing a link between the two churches. This undercroft area contains a modern altar and is the site of services in the summer. A niche in the south side of the crypt, covers a sacred well that probably dates from the early days of the abbey.

The Great Church

Today not has survived of the Great Church, yet it still holds the mysterious and majestic qualities The transept crossing still stands, the size of the remains today really gives an idea of  the scale of Glastonbury Abbey.

From its completion in 1250 until its destruction at the time of the dissolution in 1539, the Great Church was one of the largest and  possibly most important in Britain, with a greater total area than Canterbury Cathedral.  Construction began in the late Romanesque era (between the 6th and 10th Century).  This is reflected in the “dogtooth decoration” in the surviving arches, but most of the church was completed in a pure Gothic style. (1200-1450) It had a long nave and long choir with side aisles, a square central tower, and twin towers at the west end.

Monastic Buildings

Only the foundations remain of the monastic buildings, which  are South of the Churches, structures that remain are the  cloister, chapter house, refectory, Cells (dormitory).

Abbots Kitchen

Directly south of the Lady Chapel and west of the other monastic buildings are the ruins of the Abbot’s Hall and the very impressive Abbot’s Kitchen (built 1334-42), a square building with its great chimney still intact. Inside, eight curved ribs of the vault rise to a small opening in the centre. You can enter this building and see the magnificent fireplace and get a sense of the abbot’s h lifestyle would have been like.

I know there is a lot of pictures on this article but I feel it would be doing an injustice to the beauty and presence of the Abbey if I did not include them.

Visiting the Abbey you can really get a sense of how special and spiritual this place is with the back drop of the Mendip hills and the imposing Tor with St Micheal’s Tower standing like a sentry looking over the town, and the two springs that rise from the depths of this fascinating hill.

In my opinion it is no wonder that people flock to this place on a pilgrimage each year!

There is also a page that charts the Abbots of Glastonbury and the works that were carried out in there time in the seat, taken and adapted from Wikipedia,

Below is a video by Gypsy 085 taken on the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey with some great music too.

Here is a link to Glastonbury Abbey (opens in a separate window)

The next post will be about  Glastonbury Tor and St’ Michaels Tower and then going on to St Joseph of Arimathea.

Until the Next time….

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