The Avalonians

An intriguing account of the life and times of the extraordinary characters who were drawn to Glastonbury, the Isle of Avalon, at the turn of the 20th century and who became involved in a series of strange events. The story begins with the discovery in St. Bride's Well of a blue glass bowl, rumored to be the Holy Grail, which baffled British Museum experts. This controversy attracted Archdeacon Basil Wilberforce, poet Fiona Macleod, the esotericists A.E. Waite, Annie Besant and Wellesley Tudor Pole, Mark Twain, and the renowned physicist Sir William Crookes. In 1914 the composer Rutland Boughton set up the annual Glastonbury Festivals helped by his friend George Bernard Shaw; Alice Buckton, the educational pioneer, started an arts and crafts and drama center at Chalice Well; the architect Frederick Bligh Bond carried out psychic investigations into the history of Glastonbury Abbey; later, Dion Fortune came to Glastonbury to write some of her best known works. It is a unique document of social and historical significance, full of controversy and bizarre happenings.