Glastonbury No. 1 / Glastingbere

INFORMATION

FontID: 13219GLA
Church/Chapel: Abbey church of St. Benedict [aka of St. Benignus]
Church Patron Saints: St. Benignus? / St. Benedict?
Church Location: Magdalene St, Glastonbury BA6 9EL, UK -- Tel.: +44 1458 832267
Country Name: England
Location: Somerset, South West
Directions to Site: Located off the A367, 2 km across the river from Street, N of Ilchester, E of Bridgwater, 38 km S of Bristol
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Bath & Wells
Historical Region: Hundred of Glastonbury
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 7th - 12th century, Medieval
Church Notes: the VCH entry reports of excavations showing pre-650 remains of a "a church, traditionally built of wattles and later known as the Old Church, and a cemetery, the whole surrounded by a ditch"; most monastic buildings destroyed in 1184 fire;
There is an entry for Glastonbury [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST5038/glastonbury/] [accessed 7 May 2018]; the entry does not mention cleric or church in it. Clarke's Gazetteer of 1852 reports: "The great gate, formerly leading to the abbey, with the great church and hospitium for pilgrims to St. Dunstan's shrine, have been long occupied as inns, though the hospitium still retains its font". The Brief Historical Guide of St. Benedict's, Glastonbury [http://www.stbens.ukpc.net/history.htm] [accessed 9 November 2007] mentions a font inside the restored church [NB: the mention is 'in passim'; the restoration took place in 1885]. David Gowland, of Glastonbury St John's, notes: "In the garden of Glastonbury Abbey Retreat House is a flower trough. It is though that this is the original top section of a font, from which the design was copied" [source: e-mail to BSI of 20 November 2007]. [NB: if that were the case, the original font must be a Perpendicular one, probably 15th-century -- to be completed]. [NB: Glastonbury Abbey is the location of the Chalice Well, said to be one of the oldest in Britain]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.145556, -2.714444
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 8′ 44″ N, 2° 42′ 52″ W
UTM: 30U 519975 5666050