Such wealth was not likely to elude the comprehensive grasp of Henry VIII.  Glastonbury was involved in the general ruin of the monasteries.  The fate of its last abbot, Richard Whiting, is one of the tragic stories of the time.  Though a “weak man and ailing,” he refused to surrender the property of his abbey.  But Thomas Cromwell had a “short way” with passive resisters.  In his private “remonstrances,” amongst other jottings was found, “Item—­The Abbot of Glaston to be tried at Glaston, and also executed there.”  In accordance with this pre-arranged programme Whiting was arraigned at Wells, November 14, 1538, on a quite unsupported charge of treason, and in the great hall of the palace sentenced to death.  The next day he was drawn on a hurdle to the tor, and there hanged, and his head fixed on the abbey gateway.  After this judicial murder the monastic property at once fell to the Crown.

[Illustration:  ST. JOSEPHS CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY]

The entrance to the ruins is through a gateway opposite the George Hotel.  The abbey cannot be seen from the street, but this obscure entry conducts the visitor to the porter’s lodge (entrance 6d.).  The most perfectly preserved portion of the buildings is the chapel of St Mary, commonly known as St Joseph’s Chapel.  It stands on the site of St Joseph’s legendary shrine, and formed a kind of Galilee to the W. entrance of the church.  It is rectangular in plan, with a square turret crowned by a pyramidal cap rising from each corner, only two of which now remain.  It is one of the most beautiful specimens of Trans. work in England.  The decoration is rich and abundant—­“no possible ornament has been omitted.”  Note (1) fine N. doorway (which should be compared with the S. porch of Malmesbury), (2) arcading round interior face of wall, (3) triplet at W. end, (4) remains of vaulting, (5) shallow external buttresses.  Beneath the now demolished flooring is a small crypt of 15th-cent. work.  It was probably excavated to provide extra burial accommodation.  Observe on S. side a well within a round-headed recess.  The chapel originally stood apart from the great church, but was eventually joined up to the larger building by a continuation of the chapel walls.  The extension is at once detected by the late character of the work.  Note change of arcading from Norm. to E.E., and the E.E. entrance to the church.  Of the latter very little now remains.  There still stand the piers of the chancel arch, portions of the walls of the choir and nave aisles, and a little chapel which opened out of the N. transept.  But these remains, slight though they are, are sufficient to indicate the general design of the church and its huge dimensions.  Though there is an evident attempt to keep up the character of the ornamentation displayed in St Mary’s chapel, the workmanship is much later; and a still later development is noticeable in the two easternmost bays of the choir, thrown out by Abbot Monington (1371-74).