Glastonbury’s unique history covers many centuries. Since the Middle Ages, Glastonbury in Somerset has been considered a most likely location of Avalon, the final resting place of King Arthur and Guinevere.

However, Glastonbury’s mystical and spiritual history starts far before the era of Camelot.

Glastonbury, the Isle of Glass

Over 2,000 years ago, Glastonbury was an island on the edge of the sea, near the coast of Britain. In Celtic times, it was a great Pagan sanctuary, shown by its ruins dating to the third century, BCE, and even earlier.

In Celtic times, Glastonbury was known as Yniswitrin, a Welsh name meaning “Isle of Glass,” also translated “Isle of Apples.” The surrounding county of Somerset was called the Summer Country, which can refer to its reputed connection to the Otherworldly realm of “the Summerland.”

From earliest times, Glastonbury and the Arthurian Kingdom have always been on the edge of the faery world.

As years passed, the landscape changed. Glastonbury acquired its Saxon name and became an inland island, surrounded by a lake.

Today, that lake is gone and Glastonbury Tor rises 500 feet above the land around it, capped by the 14th century chapel of St. Michael. At the foot of the Tor, the serene town of Glastonbury is both a New Age and Christian landmark, and the home of significant spiritual history.

Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea in Glastonbury

There are many links between Jesus, his family, and the Glastonbury area.

According to the Herald’s Office of England’s College of Arms, the Christian history of Glastonbury begins with Ann, the mother of Mary, and Ann’s brother, Joseph (later called “Joseph of Arimathea”).

Ann was born in “Cornouaille,” or Cornwall; her father was probably involved in the mining of tin. Ann’s family had relatives in the Nazareth area, which is where Ann’s daughter, Mary (the mother of Jesus) was born. There is evidence that Ann’s family traveled often.

Ann’s brother, Joseph, moved first to Marmorica in Egypt. Most likely, it was his family with whom Mary and Joseph found shelter, when they fled to Egypt during Herod’s “slaughter of the innocents.”

In early accounts, Joseph of Arimathea is called Joseph de Marmore in reference to his years in Egypt.

Joseph later moved to Arimathea, where he was the Minister of Mines for the Roman government. He travelled to Cornwall and Somerset frequently on business.

(There are tales of Joseph of Arimathea and his nephew, Jesus, in these two regions, but nowhere else in the British Isles. Coincidentally, these are the only two areas in Britain where tin is mined.)

Additional evidence supports these legends: Archaeological digs at Ostia, a seaport of ancient Rome, produced ancient Roman drainpipes. When analysed, the tin used for the drainpipes came from the Mendip Hills, near Glastonbury, England.

According to legend, Joseph brought Jesus to Glastonbury several times when Jesus was in his teens. Together, they built the first religious building in Glastonbury, on the site where Lady Chapel stands, today.

As early as 597 CE, St. Augustin wrote to Pope Gregory, “In the Western confines of Britain there is a royal island of large extent, surrounded by water…,” where a church was “constructed by the hands of Christ himself.” St. Augustin was referring to the church at Glastonbury.

This church–and the Christianity which flourished here immediately after Jesus’ death–is the reason why, when the world Church Council is seated at the table in the order in which they received Christianity, Great Britain was traditionally placed first, even before Rome.