The Tribunal, Glastonbury
| The Tribunal | |
|---|---|
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 Location within Somerset
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Glastonbury |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°08′46″N 2°42′35″W / 51.1462°N 2.7098°W |
| Construction started | 15th century |
| Completed | 16th century |
Coordinates: 51°08′46″N 2°42′35″W / 51.1462°N 2.7098°W
The Tribunal in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, was built in the 15th century as a merchant's house. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.
The history of the building is not well documented, although the majority of the present stone house was constructed in the 15th century on the site of a 12th-century wooden building. The current front wall was added in the 16th century. It has been used as a merchant's house and possibly a shop and school. It was thought that it was the venue for court proceedings, hence the title Tribunal, however there is no evidence this ever occurred. One of the ground floor rooms still has the window and ceiling panels from the Elizabethan era. The front room upstairs has an arched braced, wooden, truss roof.
The building is currently in the guardianship of English Heritage and used as a tourist information centre. On the first floor is the museum of the Glastonbury Antiquarian Society which houses artefacts from Glastonbury Lake Village including the "Glastonbury Bowl". The bottom part of the bowl dates from the Iron Age and the upper part was added in the 1st century AD.
The house owes its name to the fact that it was formerly mistakenly identified with the Abbey’s tribunals, where secular justice was administered for Glaston Twelve Hides. The name may have been first used by John Collinson in his History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset in 1791, however whwen investigated by Richard Warner in 1826 he could not identify where the name had originated. It was also thought to be the site of trials by Judge Jeffreys for the Bloody Assizes after the Monmouth Rebellion.
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