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Archaeology

The Archaeological Story

Almost a century’s worth of archaeological digs at Glastonbury Abbey have resulted in a rich archive of knowledge about the site’s past. 

The unpublished reports of the 20th century seasons of archaeology were brought together for the first time and re-examined in a hugely significant project headed by abbey trustee and award-winning archaeologist Professor Roberta Gilchrist of the University of Reading. The resulting monograph was published in 2016, which is available on open access here

Roberta Gilchrist has authored an article on Glastonbury Abbey in the popular magazine Current Archaeology. This focuses on the antiquarian excavations and how excavators were influenced in their investigations by the myths connected with the abbey. Download a copy of the full article here (PDF file)

With the aid of the University of York’s Centre for Christianity and Culture, the abbey and Reading University were able to produce a wealth of new resources, including for the first time, digital reconstructions of what the Saxon churches may have looked like, the interior and exterior of the Lady Chapel, and more. To explore further, click here 

The Archaeological Story

The archaeology of the abbey tells a 2000-year-old story. Besides the upstanding and low ruins, what lies below the ground tells us much about successive layouts of the abbey and its day-to-day life.

Remains of the first Saxon church and glass-working furnaces dating back to 700 CE have been found, but even earlier occupation of the site is suggested by Roman items and Iron Age pottery finds. 

Digs at the abbey tentatively began at the end of the 19th century but did not begin in earnest until 1908 when Frederick Bligh Bond, architect to the Diocese of Bath and Wells, undertook several years of work, mapping out the church and buildings close to the cloister. In the 1920s and 30s, Bond’s successors dug deeper, and uncovered three distinct phases of Saxon church preceding the Norman one.

The Second World War paused investigations at the abbey, but in the 1950s and 60s, prominent archaeologist Dr CA Ralegh Radford, who had visited Bond’s excavations as a boy and worked as an assistant on those of the 1930s, took the lead. Radford used targeted trenches to try and work out the footprint of the 12th-century abbey. He also gave much of his focus to the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, where the body of King Arthur had reportedly been found in the Middle Ages. 

Radford was succeeded in the 1970s by William J Wedlake, who had also learned his craft as an assistant during the 1930s excavations. Wedlake focused on the area around the Abbot’s Hall and Kitchen. In 1979, Wedlake’s was the last season of major archaeological digs at the abbey, but investigative work continued to be carried out by others whenever periods of building or conservation were undertaken. In 2007, Charles and Nancy Hollinrake’s work around the cloister showed the Saxon and Norman deposits lie relatively close to the current ground level. 

In the 2010s, conservation works on the Great Church, Lady Chapel, Galilee, and Abbot’s Kitchen gave opportunity to use more modern dating techniques and produce more accurate reports on phasing, such as those published by archaeologist Jerry Sampson. 

Despite an archive of detailed work that tells us much of the abbey’s story, there are still areas that remain untouched and lie waiting to unveil their secrets to future generations. 

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