Here is a dynamic way for your class to engage with their local environment. See the practical activities page for ways to enhance these topic themes.
The story of our Abbey covers all periods of early British history from Roman times to the Tudor period. We focus on St Dunstan and King Arthur as important local people of the Saxon period. Pupils will meet a Living History character from this period and will learn about how important religion was to the ordinary people, how monasticism came to Britain and how the stories and relics of King Arthur brought pilgrims from across the world.
A visit to Glastonbury Abbey will help your pupils understand why Henry wanted to close the monasteries in 1539. Our monks and kitchen maids retell the final months of the Abbey and the effect the ending of the Abbey had on the town in Tudor times. Our museum gives context and detail from the Tudor period.
Class sized groups can enjoy a show in the Kitchen, take a tour with the Living History team and mix in some practical activities in the tented classrooms. The town has several Tudor buildings and some excellent museums as well as the natural feature of Glastonbury Tor, where the last abbot, Richard Whiting was hanged.
The concept of a holy journey to a place of spiritual significance is common to all world faiths. At the Abbey we explore our medieval heritage, looking at the medieval world picture, motivations for undertaking a pilgrimage and the special significance of the myths and legends of Glastonbury.
A tour of the Abbey with a costumed guide and a talk in the Abbot's kitchen gives the social context of the period. Activities help bring the reality of health and hygiene of those days to life for your pupils.
Glastonbury Abbey was one of the most important abbeys in the country. Our monastery was a place of learning and instruction.
Whole class groups can explore the grounds and monastic ruins which clearly show the daily lives of the monks. The 14th century Abbot's kitchen is intact and has been re-equipped as a Tudor Kitchen might have looked.
If you wish to explore the differences between myths, legends and historical facts, then the Abbey is the place for you! We have a cycle of stories that connect the founding of the Abbey to the time of the earliest Christian era through Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail. We are also believed to be the keepers of the burial site of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, buried in the 5th century, discovered in Norman times and reburied in the chancel of the Abbey in 1278.
Sir Edwin the Unpredictable, a lesser knight of the Round Table, may be available to take your group for a tour of the grounds explaining the stories from the Arthurian cycle and relating them to places within the grounds. Children can research in the museum or question our Living History guides as they explore the grounds making their own speculations about what can be called history and what is more properly legend.
You may wish to use one of our short trails or quizzes to help your class make the most of a visit here. Allow about an hour, or longer if you wish to picnic in our grounds. Ask when you book about the current range of trails and quizzes.
A team of Living History re-enactors can be booked to visit your school for a day, as part of a programme of study for KS2 History topics. They can offer a Tudor, Saxon or Norman Day with four separate class activity topics: