Glastonbury, Somerset : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Glastonbury. You may be able to find further references to Glastonbury in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Glastonbury municipal borough, market town, and parish Bartholomew
GLASTONBURY a town, a parish, and a sub-district Imperial

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Glastonbury.

Place Type of entry Source
Edgarly seat Bartholomew
EDGARLY a tything Imperial
Havett hamlet Bartholomew
HAVETT a hamlet Imperial
NORWOOD-PARK a hamlet Imperial
Week hamlet Bartholomew
WEEK a hamlet Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Glastonbury within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Dorset and Somerset 8
Daniel Defoe Letter 4, Part 2: Somerset and Wiltshire 6
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Bristol to Plymouth 2
Thomas Pennant Gorhambury and Verulamium 2
George Borrow Wrexham and Llangollen 1
William Camden The Division of Britaine 1
William Camden Ireland (2) 1
William Cobbett Sept. 29th to Oct. 2nd, 1826: Ryall to Burghclere 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 1
John Wesley 1754-6: Retirement in Paddington; Wesley Slandered; Premonitions 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Glaston Twelve Hides 0 2
Street 0 2
West Pennard 0 3
North Wootton 0 3
Castle 0 2
Butleigh 0 2
Coxley 0 2
Godney 2 2
Baltonsborough 0 2
Walton 0 2
Meare 0 2
Henton 0 2
Wookey 3 2
Barton St David 0 2
Compton Dundon 0 2
West Bradley 0 2
Wells 20 4
Ashcott 0 2
Westhay 0 2
Pilton 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Glastonbury. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
AVALON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Thomas Pennant The Journey from Chester to London (London: Wilkie and Robinson, 1811).
GLASCON William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GLASCONIA William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GLASENBURY Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
GLASSENBURY Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
GLASTENBURIE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GLASTENBURY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
GLASTN EY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
GLASTONBURY John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.