MONTACUTE, SOMERSET  

Legends abound in the county of Somerset dating back 2000 years and beyond. Several significant legends emerge from the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey situated on what was once theisland of Avalon. Close by is another island known as Inis Wytren, or Glass Island where excavations have revealed a once busy site of the glass making industry for which ancient Britons were famous so that Saxons later named it Glastonbury. Centuries devoted to draining the land have turned what were numerous islands into a dry plain and pushed the sea back several miles.  

As early as 36CE Joseph of Arimathea is said to have brought the story of Christ’s Resurrection to Britain with him as well as the chalice used by Jesus and the Disciples during the Last Supper. It was this goblet that gave rise to the ‘Quest for the Holy Grail’ legends of King Arthur, whose discovered remains lie buried at Glastonbury. Another legend relates to Joseph’s staff which grew when planted on Wearyall Hill, and flowered twice a year at Christmas and Easter. Reputedly, Joseph established here the very first church outside Jerusalem. 

Joseph of Arimathea is said to have been present when his niece Mary, the mother of Jesus, died in 48 CE. and was buried at Glastonbury Abbey.  

According to Cressy, a Benedictine Monk and historian, St. Joseph of Arimathea died and was buried ‘over Mary’ at Glastonbury Abbey on 27 July, 82 CE. Inscribed upon Joseph’s sarcophagus were the words ‘Ad Brittanos veni post Christum Sepelivi Doci Quieri’ or “To the Britons I came after I buried the Christ. I taught, and I have entered my rest.” Besides Joseph and his niece Mary, and contrary to Romanised history, a number of the Apostles, ended their days in Britain and were buried at Glastonbury in Somerset. The remains of others were transported to Britain after their death.  

Converts to Christianity flooded to Glastonbury Abbey for baptism, instruction, and missionary assignment. Isadore, Archbishop of Seville [600–636CE] wrote in his ‘Historia’ that Philip from Bethsaida together with his daughters preached Christ to the Gauls. At one point, Philip sent 160 disciples from Gaul to assist Joseph of Arimathea and his team at Glastonbury. One of the first outreaches from Glastonbury was undertaken by the Bethany group including Mary, Martha, their maid Marcellus and brother Lazarus. This family headed back across the channel to France where Lazarus evangelized in the region of Marseilles for seven years. They lived out the rest of their lives preaching and teaching in southern France. From this point, Glastonbury became the centre of Christian outreach world-wide. For centuries, Gallic records indicate the Archbishops of Treves and Rheims were all Britons supplied by the mother church of Glastonbury, Avalon in Somerset, Britain.  

Turning to Montacute just a few miles away, local historian Tim Lambert writes, the Somerset village of Montacute gets its name from the Latin words Mons Acutis, which simply means “pointed hill”. (In the Middle Ages all educated people spoke Latin and the names of places and landmarks were often Latinised in documents in the same way that plants to this day carry a Latin botanical name). 

In the 11th century, according to an old legend Tostig, a lieutenant of King Canute found a miracle working cross at the site. The Normans built a motte and bailey castle on the hill. A motte and bailey castle consisted of a wooden stockade around a hill with living quarters on the top. Later the land was given to the French abbey at Cluny. The French monks founded a priory (a daughter abbey) at Montacute in 1102. It was called the Priory of St Peter and St Paul and in the Middle Ages dominated the area. 

In the Middle Ages the settlement at Montacute by royal decree, became a market town, allowing the people of Montacute to hold weekly markets. (In those days there were few if any shops and if you wished to buy or sell anything you waited for market day, grew your own, or bartered directly with a farmer or grower). Like many Somerset towns Montacute became a centre of the wool trade. By standards of the 21st century it was a small village with a population of only a few hundred. Montacute grew large enough that in 1240 a new borough (or suburb) was added to the town. 

In 1539 Henry VIII closed the priory and most of its buildings were demolished and the stonework, at least, used in other construction projects. However, a fishpond remains and also a dovecote, where both fish and doves were farmed as food sources. 

It was from here that the family of Robert and Elizabeth (Denman) WILTON migrated from Plymouth aboard the Oriental on the 22 June 1841 and arrived at Port Nicholson 26 October. They were going to sail on up the west coast past Mount Egmont to New Plymouth but because of Elizabeth’s ill-health the surgeon recommended they disembark in Wellington.  

        Robert Wilton [1796-1869]                   The Story of Robert & Elizabeth's Family