>> welcome to the state of the nafion >> welcome to the state of the nation christmas special. some of you may have heard me mention somerset during the course of the year, but the christmas special is all about somerset because it's where christianity in england probably really began. joseph of arimathea is said to have brought christ himself to glastonbury. between his birth and the beginning of his birth and the beginning of his ministry. what did christ do.7 well, his ministry. what did christ do? well, as any sensible man and god would do, he visited somerset with joseph, who may have been related to him, and went to glastonbury, which started the christian story. the christian truth in this country. so the next time you sing blake's famous hymn and those words come out, you must wonder if they are true. did those feet in ancient time walk upon

england's pastures green? it was. >> feet in ancient. time. walk upon england's. mountains. green. and was the. holy love. of one of england's. pleasant. pastures seen. >> and did those feet in ancient time walk upon england's pastures green? that is the question for glastonbury. was glastonbury the site where christ was brought by joseph of arimathea, immortalised in blake's works? and was and. >> 50ft above the. >> 50ft above the. >> i'm here to talk to luke lowder, who has been very generous with his time in explaining some of the stories, legends, possibly even myths

about glastonbury abbey, which is so strongly associated with the foundation of christianity and therefore, of course, of christmas. so glastonbury is one of the oldest sites associated with christianity in the united kingdom, and this tree is fundamentally important. i wonder if you could explain why the glastonbury thorn is at the heart of all the stories and legends about glastonbury? >> sure. well, the thorn tree here is tied up in the legend of glastonbury foundation. many monasteries and holy sites have a foundation legend as part of their legitimacy, how they became a holy, special place and the holy thorn. and the story of it is one of glastonbury, as it's tied up in the story of a man called joseph of arimathea, a biblical figure some say later authors say , possibly even the authors say, possibly even the great uncle of mary, or even related to christ himself. the story goes that he came to glastonbury in this case after the crucifixion. he may be coming to escape persecution in

the holy land. he arrives in the southwest up through the bristol channel on a trading vessel, sails as far inland as he can, which at the time would have brought him right up to the edge of glastonbury. he gets off of his boat at the bottom of a hill called wearyall hill. he climbs to the top of the hill and when he gets to the top, he is rather tired. at this point. joseph is a very elderly man, so he has with him what you might expect a walking stick. a staff gets to the top of the hill, thrusts his staff in the ground to rest, and while he sits and rests, this staff miraculously grows branches, grows roots and turns into a tree, the holy thorn. this was seen as a miracle, and the idea is, is that some of the local population of the island here saw this happen, and they asked joseph, what's caused this? what's made your stick turn into a tree? joseph tells them, well, god has made it happen. of course, these local people never heard of the idea of god before, so he's meant to convert them to christianity, and they are then meant to help him construct the first church

in all of christendom on the site here, and hundreds of years before justin gets to canterbury and founds the english church there, and this tree comes into flower at christmas and at easter. >> so it celebrates the great christian festivals. >> absolutely it does. so, yes, it flowers twice during those very important times. and there are a number of these trees around glastonbury, all meant to be descendants of that original tree that grew from joseph's staff. and it's been an important symbol of christianity for, for hundreds of years, because it's not a common tree. >> you don't find it all over the country or all over the world. >> no, it is a type of hawthorn tree. but yes, it is rather unique to the local area here. so add a bit of magic to the story. >> and saint joseph is commemorated here. there's a chapel. shall we go? there is a chapel. shall we go? there is a chapel. the chapel of saint joseph. and have a have a look. and saint joseph was known to be a trader. saint joseph of arimathea, he was wealthy. that's why he could pay for the tomb of christ. >> absolutely. yep. >> absolutely. yep. >> and as you pointed out, all

of this area was surrounded by water. so it would have been relatively straightforward to come. absolutely. >> yep. water were the international highways of the ancient world. >> indeed. and it's the monks who dredge it eventually, isn't it? absolutely. >> especially on the land of the monastery here. a lot of land. out to the west of glastonbury is tidal floodplain and marshes, rather unusual. and it's really in the anglo—saxon period. we see big concerted efforts for drainage to, of course, make that land usable and farmable. >> so we're coming into what was the lady chapel, part of the oldest bit of the church. and then quite late on, they decide to have a chapel commemorating saint joseph of arimathea. how did that come about? what was the motivation behind it? >> so, absolutely. so being in the lady chapel now, then, first of all, it is the oldest part of the abbey site surviving. it dates back to about the year 1186. it's about 800 years old , 1186. it's about 800 years old, and this chapel was built after and this chapel was built after a great fire that destroyed much of the anglo—saxon and norman monastery. and it's said that at

the time of the anglo saxon norman monastery, the oldest church was on this site here. and that's the church that goes back to possibly the time of joseph of arimathea, often called in glastonbury, records the vetusta ecclesia, the ancient church. so when they did their rebuild, they thought building it, building their first part of their new monastery on this site was very symbolic and important, and that would have drawn in pilgrims. >> and that's one of the things about these great abbeys, isn't it? they need something that encourages people to come. so canterbury had thomas becket, glastonbury had king arthur and joseph of arimathea, and indeed saint patrick to encourage people to come and actually to help support the work of the abbey. >> absolutely. yeah. they're cementing their claim to these saints by building these chapels and these buildings. and as far as we can tell, the monks genuinely believed that this they had the site of the oldest church on the site here. and you can see the chapel down below us right now at the end, the altar. and what's lovely about the saint joseph chapel is even though we're in a ruined chapel, you can see the altar down

there. it's still a functioning chapel that's still used, and people still occasionally hold services here. >> as we. curtains. >> as we. curtains. >> and in a moment, we'll be back at glastonbury abbey. is that where saint patrick was? is it where saint dunstan grabbed the devil by the nose? in a moment. >> i'll be telling you more. once in royal david's city. >> stood. a lowly cattle shed. >> stood. a lowly cattle shed.

>> where a. mother. >> where a. mother. >> laid her. baby in a manger. for his. bed. mary was that. mother. mild? jesus christ her. little child. he came down to earth from heaven. who is lord and lord of all. and his. shelter. was. a. stable. and his real. was a store. where the poor and needy and lowly lived

on earth all. saviour holy. holy is our. child . pattern. take i. is our. child. pattern. take i. did i got sick. he was. me and. tell us that. song by the sea. do. and. tell us that. song by the sea. do.and.he tell us that. song by the sea. do. and. he feels for us sadness. and he. shares it all our. gladness. and our eyes. and us see him through. his own redeeming love. oh! let of. here.

and gentle. is. our only. heaven above. and. he lives. children. on to the. maze. where he is. gone.

>> welcome back. i'm still jacob rees—mogg, and i've had a very special male mogg from somebody called patrick who says, obviously christ was at glastonbury. that's what inspired me to go to ireland, to

convert the irish and get rid of the snakes. but will you tell us more about the famous people at glastonbury such as king arthur? and so now let's return to glastonbury abbey to talk about the once and future king. >> formed in 1191, the monks were meant to discover king arthur within the graveyard, the south graveyard of the monastery. there are two bodies in the tomb, monastery. there are two bod