History of Glastonbury Abbey

14th and 15th centuries

In the 14th century, only Westminster Abbey was more richly endowed and appointed than Glastonbury. The abbot of Glastonbury kept great state, now attested to simply by the ruins of the abbot's kitchen, with four huge fireplaces at its corners. The kitchen was part of the magnificent abbot's house begun under Abbot John de Breynton (1334–42). It is one of the best preserved medieval kitchens in Europe, and the only substantial monastic building surviving at Glastonbury. Archaeological excavations have revealed a special apartment erected at the south end of the abbot's house for a visit from Henry VII, who visited the abbot in a royal progress, as he visited any other great territorial magnate. The conditions of life in England during the Wars of the Roses became so unsettled that a wall was built around the abbey's precincts.

The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn was built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to the abbey. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The abbey also held lands outside the town serving large parts of Somerset and including parts of neighbouring counties. Tithe barns were built to hold the crops due to the abbey including those at Doulting and Pilton.

Dissolution of the Monasteries

At the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, there were over 850 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England. By 1541, there were none. More than 15,000 monks and nuns had been dispersed and the buildings had been seized by the Crown to be sold off or leased to new lay occupiers. Glastonbury Abbey was reviewed as having significant amounts of silver and gold as well as its attached lands. In September 1539, the abbey was visited by Richard Layton, Richard Pollard