Various views of Glastonbury Abbey taken August 2011
The abbey is reputedly built on the site of the very first ever 'Chrsitian' chapel...a little wattle and daub structure which was built by Jesus Himself and his uncle Joseph of Arimathea on one of his lead and tin trading trips to Britain. The sea used to come right up to Glastonbury so in theory He could have sailed from the Holy land and ended up here, right?
This wonderful and enigmatic ruin is always well worth a visit. There is an excellent visitor centre and guided tours by historically costumed staff, which I really enjoyed!
It's hard for us to imagine the power and wealth that the abbeys once held, and considering how impressive the ruins are the buildings in their heyday must have been truly awesome. Especially when one imagines that in the middle-ages colour and imagery were generally absent from most peoples surroundings whereas the church had it in abundance. A real glimpse of the glory of Heaven on Earth.
Furthermore the cathedrals and abbeys would have been the largest buildings (well, along with castles) that folk would ever have seen. So in some respect the churches must have seemed even bigger to our ancestors than they do to us today.
The abbey was also once the supposed resting place of King Arthur and his Queen Guenevere, and as such the church attracted an enormous number of pilgrims.
The abbey was dissolved and eventually destroyed during the so called 'Dissolution' when
King Henry 8th fell out with Rome and decided he would become the head of the church rather than the Pope in order that he could get the divorce he desired. The abbeys were in a sense autonomous of the mainstream church but still bore their allegiance to Rome, plus they were staggeringly wealthy.
Therefore they became fair game for a greedy, arrogant King.
However, pilgrimages to cathedrals and abbeys were such a deeply ingrained habit for pre-reformation/dissolution English Christians, yet no mention ever seems to be made on the seismic shock such a change must have made to our ancestors. Undoubtedly there were plenty of folk who were glad to see the back of a superstitious, powerful, wealthy edifice lording it over them; and at a time when Protestant reform and ideas were creeping across Europe perhaps some felt it was inevitable that such change should come. But I can't help thinking that the majority of folk liked their effigies, ceremonies, relics, festival, pilgrimages, colour and mystery that went along with this period of English Catholicism.
A building such as Glastonbury Abbey, and indeed any church with pre-reformation imagery or colour helps to remind us of the people we once were and that Christianity is an ever changing, fluctuating faith. I do wonder what we would have become as a nation had we remained Catholic?
