Glastonbury Assembly Rooms

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The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms is a small but busy venue for music and the arts in the town of Glastonbury in Somerset, United Kingdom.

The Assembly Rooms was built in 1864 on the site of the White Hart Inn’s old stables adjacent to the Glastonbury Abbey Wall.

The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms Company Ltd was registered in April of 1864 with 49 founder members including John Austin and Walter Swayne (who was six times Mayor of Glastonbury. In 1871, 1877, 1883, 1887, 1891, and 1895. (reference: https://glastonbury.gov.uk/council/civic-history/past-mayors/)

The dimensions of the main hall are fifty three feet long and thirty-two feet ten inches wide. There are other rooms adjoining. (reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website tells us: "The Assembly Rooms became a fully-fledged Community Centre," and lists music hall, cabaret, theatre, dances, meeting place, social, literary, artistic and political as the sort of activities which went on in the early days.

The Assembly Rooms was the centre of the original Glastonbury Musical Festival which ran from 1914 to 1925 and was a forerunner of the present day Glastonbury Festival.

In World War Two The building was a social club for American GI’s. (Reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

1945 After the war, the building was bought up by Morlands and used as a sheepskin warehouse. (Reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

In the 1970’s the building was purchased by Somerset County Council and was going to be demolished but in 1973 a group of local people decided to squat the building and this led to a revival of interest in restoring it for use by the community. (Reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

In 1991 "The Assembly Rooms of Glastonbury Limited" was formed. (Reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

2012-Present The Rooms obtained funding from the Arts Council in 2012 to enable the purchase of a new stage. The venue has become a stage for the annual competition for the Bardic Chair of Ynis Witrin. The Glastonbury Players continue to stage theatrical performances and most recently the Assembly Rooms has become home to AvalonVox Poetry Slam and Vesica Production events. (Reference: The Glastonbury Assembly Rooms website)

Artists who have appeared at Glastonbury Assembly Rooms include Gong, Robin Williamson, Martha Tilston, Baka Beyond, Stevie P, Ange Hardy,Zorch, etc.

  1. Hurd, Michael (1983). "Rutland Boughton (1878–1960), The Immortal Hour". Hyperion . Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  2. "Glastonbury Musical Festival". Central Somerset Gazette. Glastonbury. 7 August 1914. p. 5.

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