Bride's Mound
is a mound to the West of Glastonbury, just near the foot of Wearyall Hill
(on the right in the photo).
Small it may be, but its history is great, being known as the western gateway
to Avalon where pilgrims would stay in vigil through the night before passing on up the processional way to
Avalon proper - and to the Tor.
The mound appears to have served this function through a seamless transition
into the Christian period, as this is the legendary site of a pre-Christian bruga - a Druidic hostel/college.
Such an established spritual community would have been a fertile source of recruitment for monks at the fledgeling
abbey. Later, King Arthur is said to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child
here, and that St. Brigid of Kildare (Brighde) stayed here in 488 AD.
Two stone chapels were dedicated to
her and built, consecutively, on the same site where, as legend would have it, stood a much earlier wooden
structure - the Shrine of Saint Mary Magdalene- during Brigid's time. As so often happens on the Isle
of Avalon, the results of archaeological investigations turn out to be remarkably consistant with ancient legend.
Download our January 2010 Newsletter Here (pdf file)
