HISTORIC RELICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22005, 11 January 1935, Page 7

HISTORIC RELICS

GIFTS TO CHRiSTCHURCH STONES FOR CATHEDRAL Tavo historic stones from England, one from Glastonbury Abbey and one from Canterbury Cathedral, have arrived in Christ church as gifts for the Christchureh Cathedral, having been secured by Mr John Booth, who is at present visiting Britain. They are being preserved in the meantime, and will be used, it is hoped, if any structural alterations are made to the cathedral. The first stone is a greyish-white stone, the size of a large brick. The written note accompanying it reads: "This stone is from Glastonbury Abbey (the English Jerusalem) in Somerset. Glastonbury Tor was in earlier days an island, Avalon, in a sea that is now Scdginoor. Here, according to a West of England tradition, Joseph of Ari--111 athea landed and built a church of wattles, bringing with him (so it is said) the Holy Grail, or the chalice used by our Lord at the Last Supper. The stone was obtained lrom the ruins by the permission of the trustees of Glastonbury Abbey, and was sent by Mr. John Booth to be incorporated in any future extension of the cathedral church."

The main ruin of early churches and abbeys at Glastonbury, was purchased by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1007, and became the property oF the Church of England in 1909. In 1914 a beginning was made with a scheme for making a homo for legendary drama. The second stone, that from Canterbury Cathedral, is whiter in colour and' slightly smaller in size. Sunk in to the stone, to a depth of a quarter of an inch, is tho seal of the monks or Canterbury, who inhabited the monastery which existed there in pre-reforra-ation days. Mr. Booth is endeavouring to grange fnr other relics to be sent to church for the cathedral, especially from Jerusalem. ,