Page "Glastonbury Abbey" Paragraph 7

The first Glastonbury Canal was built about the middle of the 10th century to link the River Brue with Glastonbury Abbey, a distance of about.

Its initial purpose is believed to be the transport of building stone for the abbey, but later it was used for delivering produce, including grain, wine and fish, from the abbey's outlying properties.

Much of the stone came from the abbey's own quarries at Doulting, allowing access by way of the River Sheppey at Pilton.

From the 11th century onwards Glastonbury Abbey became the centre of a large water-borne transport network as further canalisations and new channels were made in the region, including the diversion of the Brue to afford access to the important estate at Meare and an easier route to the Bristol Channel.

In the 13th century the abbey's head boatman is recorded as using the waterways to take the abbot in an eight-oared boat on visits to the abbey's manors in the area.