St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, or, The Apostolic Church of Britain

Britain is proverbially rich in monuments of the past, but of all the ancient places with outward and visible links with antiquity the little Somerset town of Glastonbury is surely unique. For it is not only rich in visible evidences, wrought in stone, of generations long departed, but steeped in fascinating legend and tradition.

One of the most widespread of these ancient stories is that circling around the figure of St Joseph of Arimathea. It is said that he came to Britain as a metal merchant seeking tin, and that on this journey he was accompanied by none other than the boy Jesus.

According to another and later tradition, Glastonbury is the very cradle of English Christianity, where an infant church was planted by those who personally knew Christ.