Automatic writing is claimed by some to be writing that is directed by spirit or by the unconscious mind. It is sometimes called “trance” writing but it can also be done whilst someone is aware of their surroundings, but not of the actions of the writing hand.
Some mediums claim that spirit is constantly trying to communicate and automatic writing gives them an opening. Some psychotherapists use it as a tool in Freudian psychology and regard it as being of value in gaining insight into the mind of the automatic writer. Sceptics doubt whether it is any more profound than conscious thoughts and rate it no higher than harmless entertainment.
Difficult then to imagine that the important excavation of Glastonbury Abbey, or more correctly, the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Mary, would be conducted with the guidance of a long dead monk called Johannes Bryant who claimed to have lived from 1497 to 1533.
Glastonbury Abbey was once the most wealthy and influential in England and is believed to be the oldest Christian foundation in the British Isles.
The Saxons conquered Somerset in the 7th century and as they had been converted to Christianity Their King, Ine of Wessex, who was a local man and is regarded as one of the most important in the Abbey’s history. He made it richer and gave it status.
By the 12th century the Abbey housed the tombs of three kings.
During the Dissolution in 1539 Henry VIII ordered Earl Somerset and his soldiers to literally flatten the place. They began by torturing Abbot Whiting before hanging him. They smashed statues, burned down the library and stole anything of value. The destruction was so complete that all was lost including the floor plans and even the overall dimensions. Anything left was carted away by locals to use in other buildings.
Some written references survived which mentioned the Edgar Chapel, which was said to be more magnificent than St.George’s Chapel Windsor. The Loretto Chapel was also lost.
The sad remains of Glastonbury Abbey remained in secular hands until a man called Ernest Jardine bought the ruins at an auction in 1907. He paid £30,000 for it and then held it in trust until the Church could raise the funds for restoration. By the time it came into the hands of the Church of England all that was left was the 14th century Abbot’s kitchen and part of a small gatehouse.
Frederick Bligh Bond (1864-1945) was an architect, archaeologist and psychical researcher. He was also a great-nephew of William Bligh of Bounty fame.
Bligh Bond was appointed by the Church to head the excavations. It was an extremely difficult task but Bligh Bond’s reputation went before him. He was said to have an uncanny way of successfully marking out the areas to be excavated without trial or error. It was an unpaid seasonal job, which was to be carried out alongside his Bristol architectural practice.
Bond was a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a member of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. He was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research.
He specialized in ecclesiastical architecture and medieval woodwork. He was responsible for designing parts of Bristol University as well as two schools and districts of Avonmouth and restoring several churches.
His main task to relocate important details of the layout of the site and to locate the Edgar and Loretto chapels.
When the work at Glastonbury came up he decided to try to get some information about where to dig by the use of automatic writing. It was through the Society for Psychical Research that he’d met a medium called Captain John Allan Bartlett and they made their first attempt in November in Bligh Bond’s Bristol office. Bartlett, (or ‘John Alleyne’ as Bligh Bond called him in a later book) was the first of five mediums to be used.
The usual way for the automatic writing to be done was for Bond to place two fingers on top of Bartlett’s hand, which held a pencil. This was believed to give the medium added power.
Bond asked the first question, “Can you tell us anything about Glastonbury?” Both men were amazed at the speed and clarity of the messages. Bartlett began to write and draw at high speed. Bligh Bond later recalled that it was as if the monks had been waiting for centuries to have their say. At first it seemed that their were a number of different ‘voices’ who called themselves the ‘Watchers’ but over time one appeared to come forward as the group’s spokesman. He said that he was one of the abbey’s monks and was called Johannes Bryant.
Johannes said that he lived from 1497 to 1533. He ‘spoke’ in a mixture of English and schoolboy Latin and seemed to get impatient when misunderstood. As time went on Bligh Bond ensured that independent witnesses were present. The sheer speed of the writing convinced most that the medium involved wouldn’t have had time to invent anything. Johannes told Bond to have faith and follow instructions: “Stand ye and be as waxe in our hands.”
Bond dug as directed by the spiritual guide. He soon found the Abbey’s twin towers, the Edgar Chapel, main altar as well as an unknown site behind it reached through an unknown door He found tunnels, water courses and drainage systems. Things carried on at this pace for ten years when Bond discovered the foundations for the Loretto Chapel in 1919. He identified every part of the site including several small cloisters that were not shown on any plans. What surprised everyone though was the detail regarding the decoration of the Abbey, which the monks seemed most proud of.
Bond said that the monks literally brought the past to life. He said they told him of their lives and everyday problems during medieval times.
The most intriguing information given was when it was claimed that Abbot Beere came through. He was one of the last of the great builders. It was said that the dimensions of the building embodied sacred geometry as well as sacred numbers and that the key to the secret was engraved in a marble floor in the Loretto Chapel and a great treasure was hidden on the site.
It all seemed to point to Glastonbury being a sacred site and it came with a promise that time would reveal its true function.
Hostility broke out in 1916 amidst claims that proper records weren’t being kept. The Dean of Wells, Joseph Robinson led the revolt. He was the principal churchman responsible for Glastonbury and had always been opposed to Bond’s appointment. Things went from bad to worse between Bond and the Church which culminated in them spelling out in no uncertain terms that he did not have a free hand to do what he liked and must adhere to their way of doing things.
Bond went even further and decided to use information from the ‘Watchers’ to look for the original circular chapel that they ‘said’ had been erected by Joseph of Arimathea. By doing this he claimed that Glastonbury would be recognized as being in the same class as Rome when it came to Christianity.
In 1918 Bond published a book called ‘The Gate of Remembrance’ in which he gave details of all the séances. It caused an absolute storm and Robinson loudly accused him of being unscientific and what was even worse in his eyes, using ‘spiritualism’ which the Church was violently opposed to.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Price backed Bond but the Church insisted that the Archaeological Society appoint someone to keep an eye on him. The funding was cut back and in April 1922 when Bond refused to work with the newly appointed co-director Sebastian Evans he was sacked.
His professional clients had been deserting him since the publication of his first book and he ended up in debt following an earlier divorce and fights for custody of his daughter.
The excavation was shut down and the site was untouched for six years.
Bond continued to insist that the Church got rid of him because they were afraid of what he might find. He also claimed that they had purposely obliterated some of his discoveries, in particular an apse, which finished of the Edgar Chapel. He said this was done to discredit Johannes claims that the building contained sacred geometry.
Many years later it was conceded that Bond had found a polygonal apse, which rounded, off the Edgar Chapel.
He never again practised archaeology instead devoting his time to lectures in America and experimenting with the paranormal as well as editing ‘Psychic Science’, a quarterly publication of the College of Psychic Science and ‘Survival’ the journal of the American Society for Psychical Research for which he was a part-time educational director. He worked for some time for a Boston architectural practise.
He returned to England in January 1936 remaining convinced that his work at Glastonbury would be accepted and that he would be asked to go back. It never happened and although it is one of the most visited ancient sites and one that may never have been brought back to life without Frederick Bligh Bond he is given no credit for his work by the church authorities on the history of the site and one can find only scant reference to him.
He spent his last years in rooming houses in Wales doing oil sketches of churches and died in March 1945, aged 81.
