GLASTONBURY, a town of England in Somerset shire, is situated in a low marshy country, and is almost sur rounded by the river Brue and its branches. It consists of two streets crossing each other in the direction nearly of the four cardinal points, and the houses are built principally of the stones from its celebrated abbey. At the intersection of the two streets stands the cross of Glastonbury, which con sisted of a large central column piercing the roof, and sus taining a naked figure ; and clustered columns at with strangely shaped capitals and pinnacles. This singular building has been allowed to fall into ruins, and only a part of the central column now remains. The church of St -John the Baptist is a handsome building, with a lofty tower, remarkable for its lightness and beauty. It contains several monuments, and numerous marks of its former splendour. The church of St Benedict, or the Lower Church, is in no respects remarkable.
The ruins of the celebrated abbey of Glastonbury stand on the south side of the High Street. It was originally con structed of wattles and wreathed twigs, and was afterwards built of more substantial materials. Ina, king ol the West Saxons, demolished all the old buildings, and erected a splendid monastery in honour of our Saviour ; and the chapel which he added to it contained about 2640 pounds of silver plating. The altar was adorned with gold to the
amount of 260 pounds weight ; and the church plate was set with jewels. The abbey suffered many subsequent changes, and a very small portion of it now remains. The great church is a heap of ruins. The chapel of St Joseph is tolerably entire, and also the abbot's kitchen. Besides the two parish churches, Glastonbury possesses two dis senting meeting-houses, two alms-houses, and a good free school. A little way to the north-east of the monastery stands the tower of St Michael, situated on the summit of a high hill. The view of the tower from the plain below is much admired. The principal manufactures of the town are those of silk and silk stockings. The following is the statistical abstract of the two parishes of St John and St Benedict for 181 I.
Number of houses 448 Number of families 499 Number of do. employed in agriculture . . 255 Number in trade and manufactures . . . 121 Males 1067 Females • 1270 Total population 2337 See Collinson's History of Somersetshire ; \Varner's Western Counties ; and the Beauties of England and vol. xiii. p. 484.