According to a number of traditions, Mary was widowed when Jesus and His siblings were relatively young. Joseph was certainly older than his wife, and while we don’t know for sure, he was possibly taken by the LORD during Jesus’ adolescence. According to custom, their nearest male relative, who happened to be Joseph of Arimathaea, would keep a watchful eye over Mary and her family. It would be natural the youngsters would be interested in their uncle’s travels to faraway lands, including Britain; a land free from the tyranny of Rome and the zealots of Judea.
Accordingly, it is no surprise to find in Somerset and Cornwall, several independent accounts that on at least one occasion, an uncle brought his eldest nephew to Britain to show him the tin trade he was part of. Joseph was an official supplier of tin and ore to the Roman Empire. C. C. Dobson’s book: Did Our Lord Visit Britain contains the following regarding some of these traditions.
First, from Baring Gould’s Book of Cornwall where he writes; Another Cornish story to the effect that Joseph of Arimathea came in a boat to Cornwall, and brought the boy Jesus with him… Gould’s book included maps and illustrations on the likely route taken by the travelers. An old well by the mouth of the Camel River, a likely landing site, is still known as Jesus Well. It was always seen as a holy place; traces of the Chapel erected over the Well still remain.
Another from Somerset, tells of the arrival of Jesus and Joseph in a Ship of Tarshish, how they came to the Summerland, and sojourned in a place called Paradise. Old army maps show the district around Burnham was once known by that name. There is a still a Paradise Farm in Burnham today, no one knows for certain when it got its name. A third tradition is found at the village of Priddy in the Mendip Hills, which states Jesus and Joseph stayed there. Dobson touches on many similar stories connecting Jesus to Glastonbury.
There is also evidence; Jesus came to Britain twice, on the second occasion as a young man when He lodged at Glastonbury for a considerable time. Augustine’s report, sent to Pope Gregory late in the 6th Century, contains the following:
In the western confines of Britain there is a certain royal island of large extent surrounded by water, abounding in all the beauties of nature and necessaries of life.
According to Church of Scotland minister, Dr Gordon Strachan, Augustine wrote to Gregory to inform him he had found the church in Glastonbury built by followers of Jesus. It’s a very ancient church which went back perhaps to AD37. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8380511.stm)
The Doomsday Book of the 11th Century (1088AD) contains this entry. The House of God in the great Monastery of Glastonbury, called the Secret of the Lord. According to Gildas, the 6th Century British monk, it was built by Jesus himself. Jesus’ light and precepts were ‘afforded …to this island during the last year of the reign of Tiberius. Tiberius retired to Caprae in 27A.D.
Taliesin, the legendary Welsh Bard of the same era, suggests Jesus was not only known to have visited Britain, but taught there prior to returning to Judea and Galilee: Christ, the Word from the beginning our Teacher and we never lost His teaching.
Having been taken as a boy by Joseph on this voyage and visited Glastonbury, Jesus noticed the beauty and quiet of this island. Seeking a quiet retreat in which to spend years alone before his ministry he returned here as a young man, erected his own small abode … and then in prayer and meditation prepared for his work. (Dobson: pages 26-27).
That Jesus built a wattle house for prayer and contemplation at the foot of the Glastonbury Tor, and it was later used by Joseph of Arimathaea and his disciples as a private chapel, has been passed down going on 2000 years.
Here is an island unconquered by the Romans, and remote from Roman influence and authority. The attempt to conquer it by Julius Caesar had proved abortive. Here was a faith propagated by profound oral teaching, enshrining the truth of the coming Christ, under the very name Jesu, and the principle of the Atonement. Do we wonder that Jesus came to reside in a land ripe to receive his truth? Dobson’s use of ‘Jesu’ and ‘the principle of Atonement’ is a reference to the Druids of Britain, and their hope of the Messiah. (See Christianity in Britain)
In the Isles of Britain, Jesus would be away from the heat and clamour of Palestine; Roman idolatry, regional strife and religious fervour, able to live quietly among people subject to high ideals, similar to those He had come to proclaim. Druids, and wise men from Britain, were known as to have travelled to France and beyond, as far as Greece, and establishing centres of learning on the western seaboard of Europe. In his work (Tracing the visits of Jesus to Britain), Dr Strachan observed, it is credible that Jesus came to England as it was the forefront of learning at the time.
All the same, the Bible is silent on the whereabouts of Jesus after the age of twelve when His parents took Him to Jerusalem for the Passover. They became separated, three days later finding Jesus in the Temple conversing with the Elders, after which they returned to Nazareth. The next mention is the start of His ministry, His baptism by John, soon after followed by the miracle at Cana. Yet, people wonder and the question is asked, did the young Jesus go anywhere outside the land of His birth.
The only explanation, which seems to shed any light on this matter, is that Joseph of Arimathaea took Him to Britain. There are no similar stories about Him of any substance during this period. Another matter, perhaps coincidence but nonetheless worth noting; the first of the scattered tribes of Israel were beginning to arrive in the area around the same time. But, when all is said and done, it is what Jesus did inside the land of His birth that really matters to us all.
In Peace: Hold true to the faith of Christ,
James.