Name: Glastonbury Abbey
Rating: 5.0

Glastonbury Abbey

Abbey Gatehouse, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury, Somerset and Bristol, BA6 9EL, England

1-90 Years

Paid

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Description

Glastonbury Abbey is a historic and legendary abbey located in the heart of Glastonbury, United Kingdom. It is one of the most famous abbey sites in England, linked to stories of Joseph of Arimathea and the burial place of King Arthur. Today, it offers a peaceful and inspiring setting where visitors can explore history, legend, and nature.

The site includes the Abbey Yard, with a café, shop, and St. Patrick’s Chapel, providing a welcoming starting point for your visit. Key features within the grounds include the Great Church ruins, Lady Chapel, Abbot’s Kitchen, and the Abbey Museum, which displays archaeological finds and a detailed model of the abbey in 1539. Visitors can also enjoy the 36 acres of gardens and parkland, spot local wildlife, and explore areas connected to popular culture such as the Animé Fate/Stay Night location.

Online admission prices are £13.50 for adults, with up to two under 16s free per paying adult, and £6.60 for each additional under 16. On-the-day tickets cost £15.00 for adults, with the same free and additional child pricing.

Glastonbury Abbey offers a calm, reflective, and educational experience suitable for all ages. The combination of rich history, famous legends, museum exhibits, and beautiful open grounds makes it more than just a ruin. With year-round events, family-friendly access, and a central town location, it is a must-visit attraction for anyone exploring Somerset.

Features

Paid
Host birthday parties: No

Features

Abbey Yard: The Yard provides a world-class visitor welcome in keeping with the abbey’s historical, cultural and spiritual significance. Follow in the footsteps of medieval pilgrims as you secure provisions from the Yard Café, browse gifts and souvenirs in the Shop and visit St. Patrick’s Chapel before stepping into the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. The Abbey Yard also serves as a communal meeting space for Glastonbury residents and visitors, located in the heart of the town with easy access to most of Glastonbury’s shops, amenities and attractions.
St. Patrick's Chapel: In the northwest corner of the abbey precinct stands St Patrick’s Chapel, the only other roofed surviving medieval building. Built relatively late in the life of the abbey by Abbot Beere in 1512, it served as chapel to the almshouses of the poor that stood nearby. Conservation work in 2008-9 revealed a complicated structural history that showed the chapel was partly comprised of earlier precinct walls of the 13th and 14th centuries.
The Great Church: Three massive baulks of masonry of the Great Church survive – the wall of the nave that abuts the cloister, and the two iconic and almost symmetrical piers that formed part of the crossing of the transepts. The piers rise towards what was one of four great arches that supported the main tower. Incredibly, this stood at more than twice the height of the surviving stonework.
The Lady Chapel: The magnificent Lady Chapel is usually the first building to greet the eye of visitors. Its position is of great significance, and something that is unique to Glastonbury Abbey. The unusual siting of the Lady Chapel at the west end of the church rather than the usual north position was to preserve and commemorate the site of the wooden Old Church. Reportedly the first monastic structure on the site, the Old Church was fabled to have its origin in the first century, but met its end in the great fire of 1184.
The Abbot's Kitchen: Another iconic surviving building of Glastonbury Abbey is its kitchen, which ranks as one of the finest surviving examples of medieval kitchens in Europe. This kitchen did not serve the monks, rather the table of the abbot and his prestigious guests. The remaining corner of the abbot’s great hall can be seen outside, part of the complex built specifically to house the abbots of the 14th century onwards.
The Abbey Museum: The abbey museum is housed within the visitor centre and features various items from the abbey's collections including a magnificent 16th-Century Othery Cope. There is a spectacular model of the abbey as it might have looked in 1539 which will help you picture how the ruins you explore during your visit looked in all their splendour. The abbey’s collections mainly consist of archaeological material recovered from site excavations carried out since 1908.
Animé and the Abbey: The abbey is a place of pilgrimage, not only of the spiritual kind, but for many who seek the location associated with their favourite animated series. Glastonbury Abbey features in the animé Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and every year we are visited by fans from Japan and all over the world who come to see the grave of the legendary King Arthur, as featured in the series. Often these visitors will come in full costume as Saber, the female protagonist who is the resurrected spirit of King Arthur, also known as ‘Artoria Pendragon’.
Grounds & Gardens: Glastonbury Abbey is set in 36 beautifully peaceful acres of parkland in the centre of the ancient market town of Glastonbury. The grounds team work tirelessly across Glastonbury Abbey and Abbey House to produce the stunning grounds and gardens that are worth the visit on their own. Sustainability and seasonal planning are a hallmark and the grounds are able to recover quickly and effectively from the traffic that comes with events and increased visitor numbers during the summer months.
Wildlife: A diverse array of wildlife make their homes within the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. A feature of the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey is the range of wildlife you can encounter throughout the seasons. Often you will see the evidence of badgers in the grounds as they roam looking for food overnight, disturbing the flower beds and grassed areas as they look for earthworms (consuming up to 200 per night!).

Facilities

Parking: Parking available.
Food & Drinks: Located in the Glastonbury Abbey Yard, the brand new Yard Café is the ideal place to secure provisions for your visit, enjoy a hearty lunch or just catch up with friends over coffee.
Picnic: You are welcome to bring your own food and drink into the grounds. However, we ask that you please do not picnic in the Great Church and Lady Chapel as these are important spiritual spaces. Picnic tables are available outside the café and there are benches throughout the site.

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Price

Price: Paid

Price Details

Online Admission

Adults: £13.50
Under 16s: FREE (2 per paying adult)
Additional Under 16s: £6.60

On-the-Day Admission

Adults: £15
Under 16s: FREE (2 per paying adult)
Additional Under 16s: £6.60

Pricing URL: https://www.glastonburyabbey.com/abbey-admission.php

Birthday Parties

Offer Birthday Parties: No

January - February: 10am - 4pm
March: 10am - 5pm
April - September: 10am - 6pm
October: 10am - 5pm
November - December: 10am - 4pm

Address: Abbey Gatehouse, Magdalene Street, Glastonbury, Somerset and Bristol, BA6 9EL, England

Post Code: BA6 9EL

Council: Somerset

County: Somerset

By Car

From the M5 - Take Junction 23 and follow signs to Glastonbury.
From the M4 - Either follow M4 until the M5 exit and follow above directions, or take M4 Junction 18 (A46) and follow signs to Bath, then take the A367 towards Shepton Mallet, then the A361 to Glastonbury.
From the M3 - Take M3 to Junction 8 (A303), head along until you reach either the B3151 (signs to Glastonbury and Street), A37 (signs to Shepton Mallet, picking up signs to Glastonbury) or A371 (signs to Shepton Mallet, picking up signs to Glastonbury) and follow signs.

Parking

The abbey operates a pay and display car park in Silver Street. Enter the postcode BA6 8BS into your navigation device. The nearest accessible parking is in St. Dunstan's car park on Magdalene street (BA6 9EH). There is access to the abbey from the car park.

By Train

The nearest train station to Glastonbury is Castle Cary (on the London Paddington to Plymouth line). Transport to Glastonbury is only by taxi from here.
Alternatives are to travel to Bristol Temple Meads, Bath or Taunton. Onward travel can be via public service bus.

By Bus

There are two bus stops located next to Glastonbury Abbey.
First West of England provides multiple services to Glastonbury: the 376 from Bristol, the 374 from Bristol/Taunton, the 375 from Bristol/Bridgwater and the 77 from Yeovil.