Editing Glastonbury (section)

==History==
===Prehistory===
During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys and low-lying ground surrounding Glastonbury so the [[Mesolithic]] people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints.<ref name="somhist">{{cite web |url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/pdfs/esaspdfs/stage1/SOMHIST.pdf |title=Historical Monitoring in the Somerset Levels and Moors ESA 1987–1994 |access-date=10 June 2007 |work=DEFRA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223213/http://www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/pdfs/esaspdfs/stage1/SOMHIST.pdf |archive-date=26 September 2007 }}</ref> The [[Neolithic]] people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the [[Sweet Track]], west of Glastonbury, which is one of the oldest engineered roads known and was the oldest [[timber trackway]] discovered in Northern Europe, until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in [[HM Prison Belmarsh|Belmarsh Prison]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.physorg.com/news169297178.html |title=London's earliest timber structure found during Belmarsh prison dig |last=Anon |date=12 August 2009 |work=physorg.com News |publisher=PhysOrg.com |access-date=10 July 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715214221/http://www.physorg.com/news169297178.html |archive-date=15 July 2011 }}</ref> Tree-ring dating ([[dendrochronology]]) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite web |title=The day the Sweet Track was built |work=New Scientist, 16 June 1990 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212.800.html |access-date=26 October 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709025123/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12617212.800.html |archive-date=9 July 2008 }}</ref> It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world.<ref name="Current_Archaeology_172">{{cite web |title=Special issue on Wetlands / The Somerset Levels |work=Current Archaeology 172 |publisher=Current Archaeology |date=5 April 2007 |url=http://www.archaeology.co.uk/ca/issues/ca172/ca172.htm |access-date=26 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405210503/http://archaeology.co.uk/ca/issues/ca172/ca172.htm |archive-date=5 April 2007 }}</ref> The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Robin |author2=Williams, Romey |title=The Somerset Levels |year=1992 |pages=35–36 |publisher=Ex Libris Press |location=Bradford on Avon |isbn=0-948578-38-6 }}</ref> It extended across the [[marsh]] between what was then an island at [[Westhay]], and a ridge of high ground at [[Shapwick, Somerset|Shapwick]], a distance close to {{convert|2000|m|mi}}. The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the [[Somerset Levels]]. Built in the 39th century BC,<ref name="Current_Archaeology_172"/> during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of [[Ash tree|ash]], [[oak]] and lime (''[[Tilia]]'') which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was built along the route of an even earlier track, the [[Post Track]], dating from 3838 BC, and so 30&nbsp;years older.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hill-Cottingham |first1=Pat |last2=Briggs |first2=D. |last3=Brunning |first3=R. |last4=King |first4=A. |last5=Rix |first5=G |title=The Somerset Wetlands |year=2006 |publisher=Somerset Books |isbn=0-86183-432-1 }}</ref>

[[Glastonbury Lake Village]] was an [[Iron Age]] village, close to the old course of the [[River Brue]], on the Somerset Levels near [[Godney]], some {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} north west of Glastonbury. It covers an area of {{convert|400|ft|m|sigfig=2}} north to south by {{convert|300|ft|m|sigfig=1}} east to west,<ref name="HER">{{cite web |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/23637 |title=Glastonbury Lake Village |access-date=18 November 2007 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003094559/http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/23637 |archive-date=3 October 2016 }}</ref> and housed around 100 people in five to seven groups of houses, each for an extended family, with sheds and barns, made of [[hazel]] and [[willow]] covered with reeds, and surrounded either permanently or at certain times by a wooden [[palisade]]. The village was built in about 300&nbsp;BC and occupied into the early Roman period (around AD&nbsp;100) when it was abandoned, possibly due to a rise in the water level.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adkins |first=Lesley |author2=Roy Adkins |title=A field guide to Somerset archeology |year=1992 |publisher=Dovecote Press |location=Wimborne |isbn=0-946159-94-7 |pages=69–70 }}</ref> It was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |title=Iron Age Communities in Britain (4th Ed) |page=266 |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-34779-3 }}</ref>

[[Sharpham|Sharpham Park]] is a {{convert|300|acre|ha|adj=on|abbr=off}} historic park, {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} west of Glastonbury, which dates back to the [[Bronze Age]].

===Middle Ages===
The name Glastonbury is derived from {{langx|ang|Glæstyngabyrig}}.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Glastonbury |volume=12 |page=113 }}</ref> When the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called ''Glestingaburg''.<ref name="gray">{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2848235 |last=Gray |first=Louis H. |title=The origin of the name of Glastonbury |journal=Speculum |date=January 1935 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=46–53 |jstor=2848235 |s2cid=163603868 }}</ref> The ''burg'' element is [[Old English]] and could refer either to a fortified place such as a [[burh]] or, more likely, a monastic enclosure; however the ''[[Glestinga]]'' element is obscure, and may derive from a [[Celtic onomastics|Celtic personal name]] or from Old English (either from a [[Germanic name|name]] or otherwise).<ref name="gathercole">{{cite web |url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/Somerset_EUS_Glastonbury.pdf |title=Glastonbury |last=Gathercole |first=Clare |work=Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey |publisher=Somerset County Council |access-date=14 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202307/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/hes/downloads/Somerset_EUS_Glastonbury.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref><ref name=LHG>{{cite book |last=Gray |first=Louis H. |title=Speculum, Vol. 10, No. 1: The Origin of the Name of Glastonbury |pages=46–53 |year=1935 |publisher=Medieval Academy of America }}</ref> It may derive from a person or [[kinship|kindred]] group named Glast.<ref name=LHG/>
.
[[File:Summit of glastonbury tor.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Remains of St Michael's Church at the summit of [[Glastonbury Tor]]]]

Hugh Ross Williamson cites a tale about St. Collen, one of the earliest hermits to inhabit the Tor before the Abbey was built by St. Patrick, which has the Saint summoned by the King of the Fairies, Gwyn, to the summit of the Tor. Upon arrival there he beholds a hovering mansion inhabited by handsomely dressed courtiers and King Gwyn on a throne of gold; holy water disperses the apparition. This is from Druid mythology, in which the mansion is ''made of glass'' so as to receive the spirits of the dead, which were supposed to depart from the summit of the Tor. This was the chief reason why the chapel, and later the church, of St. Michael were built on the high hill; [[Michael (archangel)|St. Michael]] being the chief patron against diabolic attacks which the monks believed the Fairy King to be numbered among. Accordingly, Williamson posits that the Tor was named after the glassy mansion of the dead.<ref>Hugh Ross Williamson ''The Flowering Hawthorn'', Neumann Press 1962</ref>

[[William of Malmesbury]] in his ''De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie'' gives the Old Welsh''Ineswitrin'' (or ''Ynys Witrin'') as its earliest name,<ref name="LHG" /> and asserts that the founder of the town was the eponymous Glast, a descendant of [[Cunedda]].<ref name="gray" />

[[Centwine of Wessex|Centwine]] (676–685) was the first Saxon patron of [[Glastonbury Abbey]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Godden |first=Malcolm |title=Anglo-Saxon England |year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88343-6 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i3s1Q4XXIF8C&q=Centwine%20Glastonbury&pg=PA51 |author2=Simon Keynes |access-date=22 August 2010 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126035741/https://books.google.com/books?id=i3s1Q4XXIF8C&q=Centwine%20Glastonbury&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}</ref> King [[Edmund Ironside]] was buried at the abbey.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edmund II Ironside |url=http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxon_15.htm |publisher=English Monarchs |access-date=5 July 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922165148/http://englishmonarchs.co.uk/saxon_15.htm |archive-date=22 September 2010 }}</ref> The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 indicates that in the [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] of [[Glaston Twelve Hides|''Glastingberiensis'']], the Abbey was the Lord in 1066 prior to the arrival of [[William the Conqueror]], then tenant-in chief with Godwin as Lord of ''Glastingberi'' in 1086.<ref>[http://opendomesday.org/place/ST5038/glastonbury/ Open Domesday online: Glastonbury] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617022727/http://opendomesday.org/place/ST5038/glastonbury/ |date=17 June 2016 }}</ref>

To the southwest of the town centre is Beckery, which was once a village in its own right but is now part of the suburbs. Around the 7th and 8th centuries it was occupied by a small [[Monastery|monastic community]] associated with a cemetery.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Water and wetlands in medieval estate management: Glastonbury Abbey, Meare and the Somerset Levels in South West England |first=Stephen |last=Rippon |year=2005 |title=Ruralia V: proceedings of an international conference, 26 September to 3 October 2003 |editor-first=J. |editor-last=Klapst |publisher=Památky archeologickeq |chapter-url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/23912/water%20and%20wetlands.PDF |pages=95–112 |access-date=10 October 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801023723/https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/23912/water%20and%20wetlands.PDF |url-status=live}} {{open access }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury: Church and Endowment |last=Abrams |first=Lesley |year=1996 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-85115-369-8 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbuMaZ3JRPwC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228163400/https://books.google.com/books?id=dbuMaZ3JRPwC |archive-date=28 December 2017 }}</ref> Archaeological excavations in 2016 uncovered 50 to 60 skeletons thought to be those of monks from Beckery Chapel during the 5th or early 6th century.<ref>{{cite news |title=Beckery Chapel near Glastonbury 'earliest known UK monastic life' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=5 December 2016 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-38187299 |access-date=5 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205012237/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-38187299 |archive-date=5 December 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Beckery Chapel, Glastonbury |url=http://www.swheritage.org.uk/beckery-chapel |publisher=South West Heritage Trust |access-date=5 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224100943/http://www.swheritage.org.uk/beckery-chapel |archive-date=24 December 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Beckery Monastery and Chapel |date=26 May 2016 |url=https://avalon-archaeology.com/about/archaeology-projects/beckery-monastery-and-chapel/ |publisher=Avalon Marshes Hands on Heritage |access-date=5 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228163400/https://avalon-archaeology.com/about/archaeology-projects/beckery-monastery-and-chapel/ |archive-date=28 December 2017 }}</ref>
[[File:Glastonbury_Magdalene_Chapel.jpg|left|thumb|269x269px|Magdalene Chapel]]

Sharpham Park was granted by [[Eadwig of England|King Eadwig]] to the then abbot [[Æthelwold of Wessex|Æthelwold]] in 957. In 1191 Sharpham Park was gifted by the soon-to-be [[John of England|King John I]] to the Abbots of Glastonbury, who remained in possession of the park and house until the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] in 1539. From 1539 to 1707 the park was owned by the [[Duke of Somerset]], Sir [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset|Edward Seymour]], brother of [[Jane Seymour|Queen Jane]]; the [[Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath|Thynne]] family of [[Longleat]], and the family of Sir Henry Gould. [[Edward Dyer]] was born here in 1543. The house is now a private residence and Grade II* [[listed building]].<ref>{{NHLE |desc=Abbots Sharpham and Sharpham Park Farmhouse |num=1345069 |access-date=25 November 2006 }}</ref> It was the birthplace of Sir [[Edward Dyer]] (died 1607) an [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] poet and courtier, the writer [[Henry Fielding]] (1707–54), and the cleric [[William Gould (naturalist)|William Gould]].
[[File:St Mary Magdalenes Almshouses (geograph 3257133).jpg|thumb|[[Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury|Hospital of St Mary Magdalene]]]]

In the 1070s [[Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury|St Margaret's Chapel]] was built on Magdelene Street, originally as a hospital and later as almshouses for the poor. The building dates from 1444.<ref>{{cite web |title=St Margaret's Chapel |url=http://www.stmargaretschapel.org/home.html |publisher=St Margaret's Chapel |access-date=5 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619012648/http://www.stmargaretschapel.org/home.html |archive-date=19 June 2010 }}</ref> The roof of the hall is thought to have been removed after the Dissolution, and some of the building was demolished in the 1960s. It is Grade II* [[listed building|listed]],<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Almshouses and Chapel of St Mary Magdalene's Hospital|num=1057909|access-date=5 July 2010 }}</ref> and a [[scheduled monument]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hospital of St Mary, Chapel and Men's Almshouses, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury |url=http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/23575 |work=Somerset Historic Environment Record |publisher=Somerset County Council |access-date=5 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003092817/http://www.somersetheritage.org.uk/record/23575 |archive-date=3 October 2016 }}</ref> Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Glastonbury in 2010 plans were announced to restore the building.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Adler |first=Mark |title=Icon John and the refuge from "The madding World". |journal=[[Mendip Times]] |date=October 2010 |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=65 }}</ref>

During the Middle Ages the town largely depended on the abbey but was also a centre for the wool trade until the 18th century. A [[Glastonbury Canal (medieval)|Saxon-era canal]] connected the abbey to the River Brue.<ref name="gathercole" /> [[Richard Whiting (the Blessed Richard Whiting)|Richard Whiting]], the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was executed with two of his monks on 15 November 1539 during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/ophiuchvs2000/RememberRichardWhiting.pdf |title=Remember Richard Whiting |last=Cousins |first=J.F. |year=2007 |access-date=18 August 2009 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5knuSr1Fe?url=http://www.geocities.com/ophiuchvs2000/RememberRichardWhiting.pdf |archive-date=26 October 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the [[Second Cornish Uprising of 1497]] [[Perkin Warbeck]] surrendered when he heard that [[Giles Daubeny, 8th Baron Daubeny|Giles, Lord Daubeney's]] troops, loyal to [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], were camped at Glastonbury.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Warbeck, Perkin |volume=59 }}</ref>

===Early modern===
[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - Glastonbury (State 1).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|17th-century engraving of Glastonbury by [[Wenceslaus Hollar]]]]In 1693 [[Glastonbury, Connecticut]] was founded and named after the English town from which some of the settlers had emigrated. It is rumored to have originally been called "Glistening Town" until the mid-19th century, when the name was changed to match the spelling of Glastonbury, England, but in fact, residents of the Connecticut town believe this to be a myth, based on the Glastonbury Historical Society's records.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hsgct.org/Glastonbury_timeline.pdf |title=Glastonbury Timeline |publisher=The Historical Society of Glastonbury |access-date=28 December 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823120940/http://www.hsgct.org/Glastonbury_timeline.pdf |archive-date=23 August 2016 }}</ref> A representation of the Glastonbury thorn is incorporated onto the town seal.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Town |url=http://town.glasct.org/hissoc/Glastonbury/town.html |publisher=The Historical Society of Glastonbury |access-date=6 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726105919/http://town.glasct.org/hissoc/Glastonbury/town.html |archive-date=26 July 2011 }}</ref>

The Somerset town's charter of incorporation was received in 1705.<ref name="gathercole" /> Growth in the trade and economy largely depended on the drainage of the surrounding moors. The opening of the [[Glastonbury Canal]] produced an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building.<ref name="gathercole" /> The parish was part of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Glaston Twelve Hides (hundred)|Glaston Twelve Hides]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Somerset Hundreds |url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/ |publisher=GENUKI |access-date=12 September 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119134349/http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/ |archive-date=19 January 2012 }}</ref> until the 1730s when it became a borough in its own right.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunning |first1=Robert |title=Glastonbury: History and Guide |date=1994 |publisher=Sutton Publishing |isbn=978-0750904216 |page=63 }}</ref>

===Modern history===

By the middle of the 19th century the Glastonbury Canal drainage problems and competition from the new railways caused a decline in trade, and the town's economy became depressed.<ref name="gathercole" /> The canal was closed on 1 July 1854, and the lock and aqueducts on the upper section were dismantled. The railway opened on 17 August 1854.<ref name="body">G. Body and R. Gallop, (2001), ''The Glastonbury Canal'', Fiducia Press, {{ISBN|0-946217-08-4 }}</ref> The lower sections of the canal were given to the Commissioners for Sewers,<ref name="swdt">[http://www.somerset-waterways.org/somerset-waterways-water.html Somerset Waterways Development Trust] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705121844/http://www.somerset-waterways.org/somerset-waterways-water.html |date=5 July 2008 }}</ref> for use as a drainage ditch. The final section was retained to provide a wharf for the railway company, which was used until 1936, when it passed to the Commissioners of Sewers and was filled in.<ref name="body" /> The Central Somerset Railway merged with the [[Somerset and Dorset Railway#History|Dorset Central Railway]] to become the [[Somerset and Dorset Railway]].<ref>Handley, Chris, (2001). ''The Maritime Activities of the Somerset & Dorset Railway''. Bath: Millstream Books. {{ISBN|0-948975-63-6}}.</ref> The main line to Glastonbury closed in 1966.<ref name="body" />

In the Northover district industrial production of sheepskins, woollen [[slipper]]s and, later, [[boot]]s and shoes,<ref name="scott">{{cite book |title=The hidden places of Somerset |last=Scott |first=Shane |year=1995 |publisher=Travel Publishing Ltd |location=Aldermaston |isbn=1-902007-01-8 |page=82 }}</ref> developed in conjunction with the growth of [[C&J Clark]] in Street. Clarks still has its headquarters in Street, but shoes are no longer manufactured there. Instead, in 1993, redundant factory buildings were converted to form [[Clarks Village]], the first purpose-built factory outlet in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |title=Street |url=http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/explore-somerset/towns-and-villages/street-p500233 |publisher=Visit Somerset |access-date=6 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505091136/http://www.visitsomerset.co.uk/explore-somerset/towns-and-villages/street-p500233 |archive-date=5 May 2013 }}</ref>

During the 19th and 20th centuries tourism developed based on the rise of [[antiquarian]]ism, the association with the abbey and mysticism of the town.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bush |first=Robin |title=Somerset: The complete guide |year=1994 |publisher=Dovecote Press |isbn=1-874336-26-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/104 104–108] |url=https://archive.org/details/somersetcomplete0000bush/page/104 }}</ref> This was aided by accessibility via the rail and road network, which has continued to support the town's economy and led to a steady rise in resident population since 1801.<ref name="gathercole" />

Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] plants were found in the town's floral displays.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glastonbury.com/ |title=Glastonbury |publisher=Glastonbury.com |access-date=20 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509123551/http://www.glastonbury.com/ |archive-date=9 May 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/360351.stm |title=Hemp-lover in court over pot plants |date=3 June 1999 |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=20 August 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728084342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/360351.stm |archive-date=28 July 2011 }}</ref>