Culture of Somerset - Legends and Religion

Legends and Religion

According to Arthurian legend, Avalon became associated with Glastonbury Tor when monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed to have discovered the bones of King Arthur and his queen. What is more certain is that Glastonbury was an important religious centre by 700. It claims to be "the oldest above-ground Christian church in the World" by dating the founding of the community of monks to AD 63, the year of the legendary visit of Joseph of Arimathea, who was supposed to have brought the Holy Grail to England.

During the Middle Ages there were also important religious sites at Woodspring Priory and Muchelney Abbey. The present Diocese of Bath and Wells covers Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is now located in the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells, having been previously based at Bath Abbey. Before the English Reformation, it was a Roman Catholic diocese. There is also a Benedictine monastery, Saint Gregory's Abbey (commonly known as Downside Abbey), at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, and a Cistercian Cleeve Abbey near the village of Washford. Culbone Church is the smallest English parish church still holding services.

Many legends exist about Somerset. The Stanton Drew stone circles are said to have been formed when a wedding party continued to dance on the Lord's day. Likewise the Witch of Wookey Hole is said to have been turned to stone by a priest.

The Norton Fitzwarren Dragon is just one of many stories about dragons in Somerset. After a battle a dragon was formed from the pile of corpses and it began terrorising the area by devouring children and destroying crops. A young man took on the beast and after a long and bloody struggle, he pierced the dragons heart and cut off its head. In All Saints Church, a sixteenth-century rood screen depicts the story.