The Tribunal |
Hob Uid: 193883 | |
Location : Somerset Mendip Glastonbury
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Grid Ref : ST4993338960 |
Summary : The Tribunal is a late medieval town house in Glastonbury High Street now in use as a museum. The house is stone built on two storeys. The doorway on the High Street leads into a screens passage, to the side of which is a front room. There are also a middle and back room on the ground floor. Above is a front and back room. To the rear are the remains of a long, enclosed, burgage tenement with a well. The earliest part of the present building dates from the early 15th century; the facade was altered in the early 16th century. The house was formerly reputed to be the courthouse or "tribunal" of the abbots of Glastonbury, but it is more likley that it was used by one of the abbott's officials. It was also said to have been during the Monmouth Rebellion trials by Judge Jefferies. The street facade was inserted to replace a timber front by Abbot Bere, who was Abbot of Glastonbury from 1493 to 1521. After the Dissolution it became a dwelling, and a wing was added at the back. The burgage plot at the back of the house is now a garden. A small scale excavation was carried out in 1992 adjacent to the west wall of The Tribunal. This revealed evidence of a timber building of probable 12th century date below later medieval stone foundations. The excavation confirms that the middle room on the ground floor is best seen as an infill and stairwell between two existing free standing buildings. They suggest that the back room on the ground floor was a kitchen separated from the main house as a fire safety precaution. The building is now (2008) in use as a museum and Tourist Information Centre. It is in the care of the Secretary of State through English Heritage. |
More information : [ST 49933896] TRIBUNAL [G.T.] (1)
Further information. (2) The Tribunal now houses Glastonbury Museum. (3) 1133 HIGH STREET (North Side) The Tribunal (formerly listed as Tribunal House) ST 4938 7/37 21.6.50 I GV 2. Early C16 facade to a C15 structure. The Abbey courthouse, also used during the Monmouth Rebellion trials by Judge Jeffreys. 2 storeys. Freestone. Ground floor has a continuous range of 8 lights divided by stone mullions and a doorway to left. The wooden door is original. Panels above the doorway have Tudor Rose and Tudor Royal Arms. In centre of 1st floor is a splayed oriel of 6 lights with a 2-light window to each side. All lights have uncusped heads. Moulded strings and parapet coping. Pantile roof. Interior has open timber roofs, some moulded plaster ceilings and fireplaces. Contains museum of Glastonbury Antiquarian Society. In guardianship of Department of Environment. All the listed buildings from Crown Hotel to No 11 (North side) and Nos 2 to 10, with No 12 (South side), and the Market Cross and Nos 6 to 9 (consec) Market Place form an extremely important group. (4) Additional reference. (5) Scheduled. (6)
The building is now (2008) in use as a museum and Tourist Information Centre. (8-9)
Additional source which includes a brief accessible history of the Glatonbury Tribunal for visitors. The Museum collection now housed at the tribunal is from an Iron Age village discovered to the north of Glastonbury. (10)
Two engineering test pits were dug by hand below the boundary wall to the Tribunal in examine the Medieval foundations. The foundations appeared as a broad masonry pad at least 20cm thick and extending circa 50cm out from the face of the wall (findings published 2006). (11) |