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England Glastonbury

Guide to Glastonbury history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Welcome to the Glastonbury page

 * Introduction


 * Archives and Libraries
 * Biography
 * Cemeteries
 * Church Records
 * Court Records
 * Genealogy
 * History
 * Newspapers
 * Vital Records

Glastonbury is a very ancient town. It is located in the western regions of the British Isles, and was never conquered by the Romans. William the Conqueror also never really entered this region, and it was left to later kings to finally assimilate it into the kingdom later known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Pre-Roman times, it was part of a loosely federated group of Celtic or Germanic peoples, spreading from Ireland, through Wales, Scotland, Devon and Cornwall, and continuing through Brittany, Normandy, and modern day Belgium, Holland, and Northern Germany.

They were not barbaric in nature, but settled in small villages and towns. It is believed that there were schools and even institutes of higher learning we might call Universities in southwest England, Brittany and Normandy.

South and West of Glastonbury, and located in what is now Cornwall, are tin deposits. The Phoenicians discovered the tin deposits of the British Isles through their own exploring and seeking out of new products and markets for them. They kept the knowledge of the Cornish tin mines a closely guarded secret so they could control trade in the metal and charge a high price for it.

The fact that tin trade existed is too well attested to need proof. Herodotus as early as 445 BC speaks of the British Isles as the Tin Islands or Cassiterides. Pytheas (352-323 BC) mentions the tin trade, as does also Polybius (circa 160). Diodorus Siculus gives a detailed description of the trade

It is reputed that the tin used in Solomon's Temple was Cornish in origin.

The reference for the above information on tin in ancient Britain can be found in the following link: http://phoenicia.org/britmines.html.

According to very strong traditional and mythological indicators, Christianity came to Glastonbury at a very early date. The first wattle church was reputed to have been built in 67 AD.