Tomb of King Arthur - Glastonbury, England, UK
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 51° 08.797 W 002° 42.895
30U E 519941 N 5666168
Glastonbury Abbey marks the site of King Arthur's Tomb.
Waymark Code: WM4JD3
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/30/2008
Views: 137
The interpretive sign reads:
SITE OF KING ARTHUR'S TOMB
In the year 1191 the bodies of King Arthur and his queen were said to have been found on the south side of the Lady Chapel. On 19th April 1278 their remains were removed in the presence of King Edward I and Queen Eleanor to a black marble tomb on this site. This tomb survived until the Dissolution of the Abbey in 1539.
Legend holds King Arthur was mortally wounded and taken across the water to the Isle of Avalon. Glastonbury would have been an island at that time, so it was quite possible for a boat to bring him to the only place where any medical attention was available, which would have been at a monastery -
Glastonbury Abbey.
Centuries later (in 1191) prompted by hints and rumours, the monks excavated this same spot in the cemetery and they dug down sixteen feet, to find an oaken coffin. At a depth of seven feet they found a stone beneath which was a leaden cross with an inscription
His iacet inclitus Arturius in insula Avalonia - interpreted to read "Here lies King Arthur buried in Avalon." The coffin contained two bodies - a man and a woman. The bodies were explained as Arthur's and Guinevere's.
A century later in 1278 the bones were placed in caskets and transferred during a state visit by King Edward I, to a black marble tomb before the High Altar in the great Abbey Church. There they remained until the Abbey was vandalised after the dissolution in 1539. No one has seen, or heard anything of them since.