Glastonbury, the Templars and the Sovran Cloth

Juliet Faith examines Glastonbury’s Grail traditions alongside stories about the arrival of Christianity in South-West Britain. The book connects Glastonbury with Old Lammana, a Celtic settlement in Cornwall, and investigates traditions of a sacred object known as the Sovran cloth, reportedly hidden at both sites. It also considers the part played by Henri de Blois, Abbot of Glastonbury, in the transmission of Grail stories.

Faith discusses the Shroud of Turin, the Templecombe panel and the possibility that the Templars brought the Shroud to Somerset for safekeeping in 1307. Alongside these theories, she considers the value of oral tradition to historians, drawing on legends involving Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur and Glastonbury’s medieval abbey.