Glastonbury No. 2 / Glastingbere

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. Phelps (1836) describes the [presumably] medieval font, perhaps of the same Gothic period as the church itself: "The font is octagonal and sculptured". [NB: that is the only reference found so far to the earlier font, unless the fragment found in the Abbey Retreat House -cf. infra- is what remains of it]. Pevsner (1958) notes the modern font: "1856-7 by Sir G. G. Scott." The St. John's Parish web site [www.stjohns-glastonbury.org.uk] notes: "The font was designed by Gilbert Scott in 1856, reputedly from fragments of the original." The font is a Victorian version of a Perpendicular octagonal font, decorated with tracery, shields, etc.; and topped with a tall wooden cover with crocketed arrisses and finial. 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" [e-mail to BSI of 20 November 2007]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST4999139013] does not mention a font in it. The Somerset Historic Environment Record entry for this church [Site 23572] notes the possibility of an early church here modified in the 12th and 13th centuries. [NB: we have no information on the font from the original Norman church on this site -- We have no information either on the font from the Church of St. Michael, of which building only part of the tower has survived]