Some places do not call you with words. They call you with a feeling. Long before we ever stood upon Bride’s Mound, something about it kept appearing within our journey—as though Brigid herself were gently asking us to come and find her.
Chapter One · The Calling
The entrance to Bride’s Mound today. Quiet and unassuming, yet beyond this gate lies one of Glastonbury’s most historically and spiritually significant sacred sites. Some places do not call you with words. They call you with a feeling. Long before we ever stood upon Bride’s Mound, something about this place kept appearing within our journey. It surfaced in books, conversations and quiet moments of synchronicity, almost as though Brigid herself were gently asking us to come and find her. It was while listening to Magdalene Mysteries and exploring the sacred feminine traditions of Glastonbury that Bride’s Mound first truly entered our awareness. Its story stayed with us, quietly drawing us towards a place we had somehow never encountered before. Like so many visitors to Glastonbury, we had walked upon the Tor, wandered through the Abbey ruins and spent time beside the waters of Chalice Well. Yet somehow, Bride’s Mound had remained hidden. Almost forgotten. When we finally arrived, we were not prepared for how deeply it would affect us.
Chapter Two · Arrival
Our first visit was during Easter. Finding the mound proved surprisingly difficult. Access was confusing, parking was limited and much of the surrounding area felt neglected. The landscape was overgrown in places, and there was little to indicate that somewhere of such profound historical and spiritual importance lay beyond it. For a while, we were not even certain we had found the correct place.
When we eventually reached the entrance and began following the path towards the mound, we felt an overwhelming mixture of relief, joy and sadness.
Joy because we had finally found her.
Sadness because a place carrying such a deep connection with Brigid appeared so little known, especially when compared with the Tor, the Abbey and Glastonbury’s other celebrated sacred sites.
Standing there, we were moved to tears.
Not because the mound had lost its power.
But because it felt as though the wider world had forgotten to look for it.
Chapter Three - History and archaeology
The archaeological remains of an early Christian chapel and cemetery are nationally protected as a Scheduled Monument.
Excavations have revealed evidence of an early religious community, successive chapel buildings and a cemetery that places Beckery among Britain’s most significant early Christian sites.
Finds from the wider site also indicate human activity extending back through the Roman, Iron Age and late prehistoric periods.
Yet Bride’s Mound matters for more than archaeology alone.
Medieval tradition connects Beckery with Saint Brigid of Kildare, who was said to have spent time in Glastonbury. Over the centuries, her presence became woven so deeply into the identity of the landscape that the place came to be known as Bride’s Mound.
For some, this is primarily the story of Saint Brigid: abbess, healer, protector of the vulnerable and keeper of sacred flame.
For others, it is also connected with the older Celtic goddess Brigid and the enduring qualities associated with her: poetry, craft, healing, fire and water, inspiration and the renewal of the land.
For us, these different expressions do not diminish one another.
They reveal the many faces through which Brigid continues to be known.
Bride’s Mound contains genuine archaeological evidence of an important early Christian chapel, cemetery and religious community.
Medieval sources also preserve traditions connecting Beckery with Saint Brigid and an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Other accounts—including elements of Arthurian, Grail and modern Goddess traditions—belong to the evolving sacred mythology of Glastonbury rather than to archaeologically proven history.
This journal honours each of these layers while keeping the distinction between historical evidence, sacred tradition and personal spiritual experience clear.
The path to Bride's Mound
The quiet path towards Bride’s Mound. Some sacred places reveal themselves slowly, asking us to pause, listen and walk with care. This beautifully maintained path leads through the newly planted Orchard on to Bride's mound.
Chapter Four · The layers of Avalon
Like so much of Avalon, Bride’s Mound exists within a beautiful meeting place between archaeology, recorded history, medieval tradition and living spiritual experience.
The archaeology establishes that Beckery was an important early Christian site.
Medieval writers preserved traditions connecting Brigid with Glastonbury and with an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Beyond those records lies the wider legendary landscape of Avalon: stories of Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail, the Glastonbury Thorn, King Arthur and the mysterious islands that once appeared to rise from the surrounding waters of the River Brue.
The well-known story of Joseph planting his staff into the earth, where it miraculously flowered as the Glastonbury Thorn, is traditionally associated with Wearyall Hill rather than Bride’s Mound. Yet Bride’s Mound belongs to the same wider sacred geography, where stories of pilgrimage, healing and early Christian mystery have gathered over many centuries.
These traditions should not all be presented as archaeologically proven events.
But neither should they be dismissed as meaningless.
Stories become part of the living soul of a place. They carry memory, longing and spiritual imagination from one generation to the next.
At Bride’s Mound, history and legend do not compete.
They invite us to listen in different ways.
HISTORY AND ARCHAELOGY
Bride’s Mound lies to the west of Glastonbury in the area historically known as Beckery, on a slight raised spur overlooking the River Brue and the low-lying Somerset Levels. Today the surrounding land appears largely as fields, roads and drained pasture, but in earlier centuries this would have been a far more watery and changeable landscape. Marshes, reed beds, seasonal floodwater and winding river channels surrounded pockets of firmer, higher ground, creating what would often have seemed like a scattered group of islands across the Levels. Bride’s Mound occupied one of these valuable raised places, standing above the wetter ground and offering a natural refuge, settlement point and stopping place for travellers approaching Glastonbury from the west.
The wider Glastonbury landscape was shaped after the last Ice Age, as rising water levels and peat formation created the wetlands of the Brue Valley. Higher features such as Glastonbury Tor, Wearyall Hill and the Beckery ridge would have stood out clearly above the surrounding marshes, particularly during winter flooding. This geography helps explain why Glastonbury became so strongly associated with the idea of Avalon: a sacred island landscape approached across water, mist and marsh. Although the identification of Glastonbury with the legendary Avalon belongs to medieval tradition rather than proven history, the physical character of the ancient Levels makes it easy to understand how such imagery developed.
Beckery itself appears in early records and was later described as “Little Ireland,” reflecting its long association with Irish pilgrims and with Saint Brigid of Kildare. Its position on the western edge of Glastonbury may have made it a natural threshold into the sacred settlement: a place where travellers could pause before continuing towards the Abbey and the higher ground beyond. Archaeological evidence shows that an early Christian chapel, cemetery and monastic community developed here on the raised spur, confirming that this modest mound was once an important religious site rather than simply an isolated piece of farmland.
Seen in this context, Bride’s Mound was not merely beside the wetlands; it was shaped by them. The water created its separation, its atmosphere and perhaps much of its sacred importance. Rising just above the marshes, with the River Brue flowing nearby, it would have appeared as a small spiritual island at the western gateway to Glastonbury—a place of shelter, prayer and pilgrimage within the ancient watery landscape of Avalon.
A Place of remeberance
Rooted in love · Guided by fire · Blessed by the waters
Chapter Five
For many visitors, Bride’s Mound is part of a wider spiritual landscape that includes Bride’s Well, Chalice Well and the ancient paths leading towards the Tor.
These linked waters and hills are often understood as part of Glastonbury’s gateway to Avalon: a landscape where fire and water, healing and remembrance, history and vision meet.
Some traditions connect this whole area with the vision of the Virgin Mary, while others speak of Mary Magdalene, the Holy Grail and the old pilgrimage routes that draw people back to these sacred sites.
Whether approached through Christian devotion, Brigid’s presence or the deeper mythology of Avalon, the experience is often the same: a sense that the land itself is speaking.
Chapter Six · Renewal
We have now visited Bride’s Mound several times, and each visit has shown us something different.
During our earliest visit, the route was difficult to follow and parts of the land appeared almost inaccessible. On later visits, we began to see encouraging signs of change.
Paths had been cleared.
Groundwork had begun.
Landscaping was taking shape.
Artwork appeared around the new building.
The entrance gradually became easier to recognise.
Each return gave us hope that this precious landscape was beginning to receive more of the care and recognition it deserves.
The changes have not erased the challenges. Access and ongoing maintenance remain important, and nature quickly reclaims paths when they are not regularly tended. But the signs of renewal are there.
The Roundhouse project, developed in partnership with organisations including Friends of Bride’s Mound, Somerset Wildlife Trust and the South West Heritage Trust, represents a new chapter for the site as a place for community, education and care for the surrounding landscape.
Chapter Seven · Tending
During our visits, we have brought flowers, tidied small areas where we could and spent time sitting quietly with the land.
We have left offerings with love.
We have walked towards the well.
We have lit a candle in honour of Brigid.
And, more than once, we have shed tears.
There have been no grand ceremonies and no need for elaborate words.
The place itself seems to ask only that we arrive with sincerity.
Bride’s Mound has become one of the places where we feel closest to Brigid—not because it is polished or perfectly presented, but because its story mirrors so much of what she represents to us.
Something neglected being remembered.
Something hidden being rediscovered.
Something wounded beginning, slowly, to heal.
Purpose and preservation
Chapter Eight
House of Bridie was created not only to celebrate Brigid through art, ritual, craft and storytelling, but also to help support the people and places carrying her legacy into the future.
Bride’s Mound is one of the sacred places closest to our hearts.
As House of Bridie grows, we intend to donate a proportion of our profits to carefully chosen charitable causes, including organisations preserving Brigid’s heritage and supporting healing, community and compassionate care.
The Friends of Bride’s Mound were formed in 1995 with the mission of preserving, protecting and enhancing Bride’s Mound and its immediate environment, while keeping the natural simplicity of the site open to the community and to visitors.
We warmly encourage anyone moved by this story to learn more about their work, follow the progress of the site and consider becoming a Friend.
Support does not always have to be financial.
It can mean volunteering, sharing the history of the site, treating the land respectfully, helping others discover it or simply leaving the place a little more cared for than we found it.
Every act of remembrance matters.
A personal reflection
Chapter Nine
Brigid is so often associated with sacred fire.
Yet for us, she first arrived through the quiet.
Through creativity.
Through healing.
Through the mending of the inner child.
Through making beautiful things with our hands.
Through following a path we did not yet understand.
Standing upon Bride’s Mound, we realised something important.
Some sacred places do not need grand monuments to retain their power.
They simply need people willing to remember them.
Perhaps that is one of Brigid’s greatest gifts.
She reminds us that tending forgotten places—whether they exist within the landscape or within ourselves—is holy work.
The flame does not always return as a great blaze.
Sometimes it begins as a single candle.
A flower carried along a quiet path.
A weed gently pulled from the earth.
A story retold.
A place loved again.
Chapter Five · Remembrance
Chapter Ten
Bride’s Mound has survived the disappearance of its chapels, the transformation of the ancient wetlands, the dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey, industrial development and long periods of neglect.
Its story has never entirely disappeared.
It remains beneath the earth in the graves and foundations of the early community.
It remains within medieval accounts of Brigid and Mary Magdalene.
It remains in the prayers and offerings left by modern pilgrims.
And it remains within every person who reaches this quiet mound and senses that its modest appearance conceals an extraordinary past.
Bride’s Mound may be one of Avalon’s forgotten sacred hills.
But it does not need to remain forgotten.
To visit it with care, learn its history, protect its wildlife and share its story is to become part of its renewal.
It is to honour not only the Brigid remembered through tradition, but the enduring qualities she represents:
Healing what has been neglected.
Rekindling what has almost gone out.
And bringing life back to the places the world has overlooked.
May all who walk this quiet path tread lightly, honour the land and leave Bride’s Mound a little more loved than they found it.
This article draws upon archaeological records, historical sources, modern conservation projects, spiritual literature and our own visits to Bride’s Mound.
Friends of Bride’s Mound — Official Website
Friends of Bride’s Mound — Archaeology
Friends of Bride’s Mound — Legends and Historical Traditions
Historic England — Beckery Chapel and Cemetery Scheduled Monument
Glastonbury Town Deal — St Brigid’s Chapel and Field
Magdalene Mysteries: The Left-Hand Path of the Feminine Christ by Seren Bertrand and Azra Bertrand, M.D. This has been used as a spiritual and esoteric reference rather than as an archaeological authority.
Personal visits, reflections and original photography by House of Bridie.
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