Day 14: In search of Abbeys, Bishops, Cathedrals and the goddess

The rain that they had been threatening looked like it was going to hold off for a bit longer as we planned a drive out of Higher Greenscombe farm, destination Glastonbury...We made it out and found the odd A road on our trek. Arriving in Glastonbury we discovered that they were having some kind of Goddess festival but were fortunate enough to squeeze Harry into a spot in the carpark immediately behind the Glastonbury Abbey. Score! So we made the decision to do the abbey first and as we were paying our money, maid servant Alice was admonishing our tardiness, telling us that we were pilgrims in the year 1540 or so and that we should come with her. For the next 40 minutes or so we were led on an excellent tour around the ruin of the Abbey, learning again about the impact of the dissolution of the monasteries. There had been an Abbey of sorts at Glastonbury since before the 9th Century and the Benedictines took it over later. It is the reputed burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere and that has certainly made it a place of pilgrimage for those of religious faith and those drawn to other less religious myths. It was an enormous place, very grand, and at the time of the dissolution, the richest abbey in England, worth in excess of 36 billion dollars by todays money. Its closure and subsequent decay was largely due to the taking of the lead off the roof which weathered the structure. As it crumbled, stone was sold off to locals for building projects to make money, and the rough rubble inside the walls was turned into road base for the emerging roads of the time. When Henry’s posse went around demanding the accounts of the monasteries and repossessing, the abbot and the treasurers said no! So they were “hung drawn and quartered” literally. We could see remains of the abbey church and the footprint of other buildings such as the Great Hall and the cloisters, but the most in tact building of the whole site is the Abbot’s kitchen, because it had a stone roof and was therefore not as valuable. It is an acoustically perfect structure and after we had learned about all of the food and its means of preparation, Alice asked if anyone could sing. Our Italian group member sang some opera beautifully but softly, and then Martina, Chris and I sang “Sing a Blessing”. A couple of the people in the group were moved to tears ( yes in a good way , the singing wasn’t that bad!!) We then wandered around the Lady Chapel before checking out the education centre and the shop. I just kept thinking how real this made the Year 10 Religious History course! So good. As we were driving out of Glastonbury we saw that there was a Goddess Festival on and there were some really ‘interesting’ characters in the town... but we had other items on today’s agenda so the GPS was set to Wells and off we went.

We were initially only going to Wells for the Cathedral, but decided to have a look at the Bishop’s Palace first. This was a real find. For a start it is the first real moat we have seen filled with water and the wall around the palace is an imposing edifice. There has been a Bishop of Bath and Wells in Wells since the 1200s, and the Bishop’s palace is the home of the current Bishop. There are significant parts of the property that are opened to the public, and we wandered the Bishop’s private Chapel and the historical display and the garden before lunching in the cafe, looking at the amazing site and overlooking the croquet lawn. It appears as though there was a great hall adjacent to the chapel, but all that now remains since the dissolution is the wall. There appeared to be some kind of folly in the garden but it turns out that it was a corner of the great hall and one of the bishops had the adjacent walls destroyed so that he had a folly in the yard. The midsummer festival was on and so there were children everywhere dressed up as Alice in Wonderland or the Queen of Heart, there were jumping castles and family picnics in the Gardens and stacks of activities including story telling by none other than the Queen of Hearts herself. A fabulous venue and such a good find and the source of much merriment when we told Sarah that we had been having lunch at the Bishop's Palace: she thought that I had gone and found myself a bishop with whom to lunch.

Bishop’s Palace over, it was time to go across the way to the actual Cathedral... and wow. It totally exceeded our expectations. The outside of the cathedral is exquisite: heavily carved and towering. Inside the vaulting is no less inspiring and the shaping in the nave is unlike anything I have seen before. The cathedral features amazing stained glass windows above the High altar and is dotted with the tombs of bishops back to the 1200s. We were unable to stay for evensong , but did get a special treat as the choir from Trinity Church in Boston USA who were singing at evensong tonight were rehearsing and we sat for a short time and just dissolved into the beauty and the grandeur and the holiness of the moment.

There were still miles to go.... and the next excursion was to drive through Cheddar Gorge.. Oh wow! This one is a natural wonder and the drive through revealed towering cliffs, some with rock climbers and stunning rock falls. I am so glad that, even though it was overcast, that the weather held. Awe inspiring !

Martina was keen to see some standing stones and so, while the route was a little tricky thanks to the sense of humour of the GPS, we finally arrived at Stanton Drew, where there are actually three stone circles in the middle of a farmers field full of cows (and cow pats). But fancy being able to walk up close and touch the stones and look at the patterns of these ancient religious monuments and wonder 3000-4000 years ago what the people did there and why they were so important. It was truly a sacred site and its juxtaposition against the Stanton Drew church was quite intriguing. We did have a chuckle to ourselves.

Our final stop today was to be the third in the series of coaching inns from our coasters: the George Inn at Norton St Phillip. We were not expecting the town to be as big as it was and nor were we expecting the pub to be on a hill. But there it was. It lays claim to being the longest serving public house in England, having served ale consistently for over 700 years. We booked in for the Sunday Roast, and while it was not as stunning as last Sunday’s offering at the Lord Crewe Arms, it was pretty awesome. The staff were also quite amazed by the coaster story so that was a bit of fun on.