What is the Mound’s significance in legend and history?

The Bride Stone tells of the existence of Bride’s Well, where the famous and evocative Glastonbury Blue Bowl was placed by Dr Goodchild. This artefact is now in the guardianship of the Chalice Well Trust and Dr Goodchild’s ‘Beckery Salmon’. The Bride stone is now at the foot of the bank of the River Brue.

For the full story of the Blue Bowl and the Beckery Salmon, please refer to Patrick Benham’s excellent book ‘The Avalonians’.

“One of the best known shrines to Bride in the West Country was that of the Beckery near Glastonbury. The land round there is still called Brigit’s Isle or Little Ireland – Beg Eri.”

Both William of Malmesbury, c. 1135, and John of Glastonbury, c.1400 wrote of the visit of St.Bride to Glastonbury in 488 AD where she spent time at the Beckery. There was an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene there. It was common for Celtic-Christian missionaries to visit Glastonbury as allegedly St. Dunstan was taught by Irish scholars. Relics left by St. Bride were reportedly on display in the time of William and John and were visited by pilgrims. Their writings tell us that the Beckery was an important chapel site, a daughter establishment of the abbey. The Beckery is also a papal charter of 1168, refers to the Beckery as the location as first of the islands in the Glastonbury Abbey estates.

“Companionship of Bridget of the Cows be Yours”

A bell known as Bride’s bell is mentioned in Dion Fortune’s Avalon of the Heart.

“St Bride, too, the sweetest of solitaries, had her cell at the Beckery, a low rise of ground beyond Wearyall. There she left her weaving tools behind her and a few years ago a bronze bell of most ancient workmanship was found there by a shepherd and was given by him to chalice well for their chapel, where its two sweet notes used to give the call to prayers, morning and evening. That it was a woman’s bell is certain, for the finger holes by which it is held are so small that only a woman’s fingers could use them.”

The bell is now lost, but Alice Buckton, owner of the Chalice Well from 1912 – 1944, can be seen using it in the film ‘Glastonbury Past and Present’ made in 1932. Whether it was an ancient British bell or a cowbell is unknown, but Bridget, like the Egyptian goddess Isis and Hathor, is associated with cows and the bas-relief carving on St. Michaels Tower on Glastonbury Tor depicts St. Bride milking a cow.

With the help of the generosity of our friends in giving donations we were able to arrange a private loan and on 28th April 2005, Friends of Bride’s Mound bought the land.

Pilgrims to Glastonbury are said to have spent the night in vigil in the chapel before processing to the abbey. If visiting from the west by water, e.g. from Ireland, Bride’s Mound formed the Western Gateway to the Isle of Avalon.

John of Glastonbury wrote of a special hole in the southern wall of the chapel, a healing hole through which people crawled when in need of healing. One of Brigit’s attributes is goddess of healing.

Until recently, the fields surrounding Bride’s Mound were known as ‘The Brides’.

What have been the major challenges to the success of the Friends' aims for Bride’s Mound?

Over the years the position of the site adjacent to what was the derelict Morland’s factory site has been neglected and subject to development plans which The Friends have opposed in order to reclaim this sacred site. The friends campaigned to stop the original owners using part of the Mound as a car park. This continued as the land changed hands with letters and meetings, which led to us giving evidence at a public inquiry for the District Local Plan in 2000. We established that the chapel field was outside the Morland’s development limit and were pleased as the inspector supported our intentions that this place should be respected for its spiritual significance and stated that any use of the site which fails to respect the chapel would not be permitted. The Mound itself is a scheduled ancient monument.

From 2004/5 the South West Regional Development agency wanted a two-storey visitor’s centre on part of the chapel field and the Friends opposed this. In 2005, in order to purchase the land, the Friends had to becomes a non-profit making limited company, which has been a hard, challenging journey for a visionary association and a learning curve for all of us on the Committee. With ownership has come responsibilities plus being subject to current legislation. We are trying to do our best for the land being far more official yet keeping alive our vision.

What may happen to the rest of the site, where the well was, and what is the Friends’ Vision?