Frederick Bligh Bond - Glastonbury Excavations

Glastonbury Excavations

In 1908 the Church of England appointed him as director of excavations at Glastonbury Abbey. Before he was dismissed by Bishop Armitage Robinson in 1921, his excavations rediscovered the nature and dimensions of a number of buildings that had occupied the site. His work at Glastonbury Abbey is one of the first documented examples of psychic archaeology and remains a principal case in many discussions of psychic archaeology. He claimed to have contacted dead monks and the supposed builder of the Edgar Chapel at Glastonbury who he said advised him where to excavate, enabling him to locate two chapels. Archaeologist Ken Feder notes that it is impossible to tell whether he was actually advised by ghosts or spirits or rather his expertise in church architecture and information from early drawings helped him locate them.