Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey is a ruined abbey located in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The abbey was founded in the 7th century AD, and enlarged in the 10th century. It was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The ruins became a tourist attraction after they were restored in the 19th century.

The monument includes part of the standing, ruined, and buried remains which together form the greater part of Glastonbury Abbey and its former medieval precinct. The abbey is sited in the center of the town of Glastonbury and, from its foundation in pre-Conquest times until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, it was protected by a precinct wall which separated the religious community from those outside. It was one of the richest, and at times the richest, of all the Benedictine houses in England.

The pre-Conquest abbey is represented only by remains incorporated into later structures. The oldest parts are two churches which were built before 1066 on either side of Lady Chapel Road that runs through Glastonbury town center. These include fragments of standing walls as well as buried remains visible during excavations below street level. The foundations of a stone building, probably the monks’ dormitory, were uncovered during 19th century excavations on the north side of the abbey church.