Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury.
"Ancient Christianity and King Arthur are in Glastonbury's blood: this church stands on a Saxon site, though the first church on record dates from 1175.
A 'new' church is recorded in 1428/29, and the 'new' tower (still the second tallest in Somerset) followed after the original one began to shed its pinnacles in the 1460s. The roof, with its clerestory and angel busts, is a little later.
Pieces of medieval glass from the original east window are reused to good effect in the chancel, and St George's Chapel has an oak screen made from 15th century wooden fragments."
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"The church sits on the High Street, and within the churchyard lies the Glastonbury Tercentennial Labyrinth and a Glastonbury Thorn. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea arrived in Glastonbury and planted his staff on Wearyall Hill where it took root and flourished. It flowers twice a year, in spring and around Christmas. A flowering sprig of this Holy Thorn is sent every year at Christmas to the Queen by the Vicar and the Mayor of Glastonbury.
The church is built of Doulting stone, Street stone and the local Tor burr. The magnificent tower rises to a height of 134½ feet (41 metres) and is the second tallest parish church tower in Somerset.
Things to look out for in the church...
• Two large carvings, each from a single elm tree - the 'Madonna with Child' and the 'Resurrection Christ', both early works of Ernst Blensdorf, carved in Somerset in 1945 after his escape from the Nazis.
• The Joseph of Arimathea window. The 1936 stained glass in the north window is by AJ Davies and depicts St Joseph, King Arviragus, St Aristobulus and St Simon the Zealot. In front of the window is what may have been part of a shrine to Joseph of Arimathea, erected in the abbey in the early 15th Century. It was moved to its present position in 1928. Displayed in a case on this tomb or shrine is a funeral pall made in 1774 from a cope. This cope was traditionally worn by Abbott Whiting, put to death on the Tor in 1539.
• The book case containing a chained copy of Erasmus' Paraphrase of the New Testament in English, bought in 1548, volumes of Fox's Acts and Monuments of 1571 and a Breeches Bible of 1584 bound with an Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer.
• Several copies of a Glastonbury monk's chair, one of which was owned by Walpole.
• The ceiling - panelled and painted with gilded bosses, one of which is a Green Man.
• St George's chapel. The oak screen is a reconstruction of the original, made by Bligh Bond in 1927, incorporating fifteenth century portions found in an old house. The east window includes: St George and the Dragon; St Michael with a goblin holding down the scales of justice and St Bride (St Bridget) with her wolf, tending sheep, with Glastonbury Tor in the background.
• The altar, dated 1673. Above it 15th Century linenfold panelling frames the centre panel of a triptych of c.1500 from the school of Conrad Witz."
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