Arthur and Guinevere are said to be buried on the grounds. In the 1100s, monks found the remains of a man with an inscription indicating it was the grave of Arthur in the Isle of Avalon. The bones were reburied in a black marble tomb in the 1200s and destroyed when Henry VIII did so to the abbey. It is believed that the abbey was on the Island of Avalon and there is physical evidence that supports the possibility that the land had once been an island.
Frederick Bligh Bond, the great grandnephew of Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame, was fascinated by church architecture and the Middle Ages. Glastonbury held an even greater fascination for him. Bond joined the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. When the society arranged to have the Glastonbury excavations done, he offered his services.
Bond was interested in the use of psychic talents in archaeology and the excavations. Once he was in charge of the excavations for the abbey, he contacted a retired Navy Captain, John Allen Bartlett, "John Alleyne," to help. The man was an automatic writer. Bond believed his presence was necessary for the psychic process to be successful.
Their first attempt was successful. They received communications from the Watchers, who claimed to be spirits of monks who had lived at Glastonbury. They spoke with different voices. The spokesman for the monks called himself Johannes Bryant. He said he lived from 1497 to 1533. He spoke in a mix of English and Latin. Bond was fearful lest they be accused of fraud and had independent witnesses at future sittings. They confirmed that Bartlett wrote at too fast a pace to be making up the information.
They received two drawings and information about the Edgar Chapel. The chapel's existence was not known to them as a fact then. After the chapel, named after the English Saint, Edgar, they discovered that a few written references still existed. There was also the Loretto Chapel, built in Italian style that was lost. The Watchers described its location so Bond was able to find it. More information was to come later. Bond gathered credible, logical information from the Watchers.
