The mound can also be said to take its name from Bride (pronounced Breed), Brigit and Brighde (pronounced Bree-dah) who was The Triple Goddess of the Celts.

Brigit was one of the most widely worshiped mother goddesses in Celtic Britain, and is seen as the Goddess of fire, smith craft, creativity, and healing.

Unable to remove such a powerful Deity from the Celtic people, she was adapted by the Roman Catholic Church into the cult of St Brigit, who founded a religious community at Kildare in Ireland.
 
Excavations on the Mound have revealed the remains of an early chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene, This chapel was part of a Mary Magdalene hermitage and it was here that St Brigit lived when she came to Glastonbury from Ireland in the fifth century.

 Relics of hers including a spindle and a bell were left at Bride's Mound where they were displayed in the chapel. It was subsequently visited by so many Irish people that it became known locally as ‘Little Ireland.’
 
In 1400 AD the monk, "John of Glastonbury mentions in his writings a chapel at Beckery dedicated to St. Brigit, which had a special opening in the southern wall that healed those who passed through it. The fields around Bride’s Mound are still called "The Brides”.
 

John of Glastonbury also related a story concerning the visit of King Arthur to Beckery, at which he had a vision of Mary and her son Jesus. At this time a hermit lived on the mound and officiated as priest. As a result of this vision King Arthur became a Christian and changed his coat of arms from the Pagan red dragon to one showing Mary and Child. For more on this legend, according to The Isle of Avalon by Nicolas Mann.
 
There is also said to have been a spring on Bride’s Mound called St Bride's Well which in the 1920s was marked by a stone and a thorn tree on which women would tie prayer rags known as clooties. People would also throw objects into the well for good luck. The marker stone has now been moved to a place close by the river Brue.
 
From archaeology, from writings and from legend, we know that a community of women lived on Bride's Mound. Legend also relates that this area used to be called the 'women's quarter' and several Glastonbury women have for a long time been concerned about the now derelict state of Bride's mound and felt that a sanctuary should be recreated there. Known as The Friends of Brides Mound, they have proposed new plans which include the rebuilding of the sacred space much as how it would have once been.

Bride's Mound is a tiny little mound to the west of Glastonbury, at Beckery, just near the foot of Wearyall Hill. Tiny it may be, but its history is great, for legend has it that it was a gateway to Avalon where pilgrims, arriving by boat from Ireland and Wales, would stay in vigil through the night, before passing on up the processional way to Avalon.
 

Arthur is said to have had a vision of the great Goddess here, and Mary with her son, and St. Brigid of Ireland are said to have stayed here. Hence the link with Bride (Brighde, Brigid).

A few women in Glastonbury have for a long time been concerned about the derelict state of Bride's Mound and felt that a sanctuary should be recreated there. Just recently, spurred on by the threat of major development in the nearby abandoned sheepskin factory, they formed a group called Friends of Brides Mound and approached various organisations with their ideas.
 

It is proposed that this site, which has been held sacred over many centuries, should once again have a sanctuary created. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a wattle and daub timber shrine prior to the medieval stone chapel and our proposal is to recreate a shrine within a garden of herbs and an orchard using permaculture principles. Both herb garden and orchard are traditional to a monastic garden. If possible, there could also be beehives, in keeping with the name Beckery (the old name of the mound) meaning 'beekeepers' island'.

The resulting produce should be sufficient to pay for the upkeep of the site. Traditional willow fencing will separate the orchard from the herb garden and sanctuary and from the nearby sewerage works. It is also suggested that the neighbouring orchard on the site of the sewerage works be reclaimed to the mound, given special status, and that an archaeological dig should occur there, since this is an integral part of the mound. Ideally, it would be good to move the sewerage works to a more appropriate site! Further, that another neighbouring field stretching towards the river Brue be surveyed for possible archaeological interest, and that the site of the spring be found.

William of Malmesbury, writing circa 1135, and John of Glastonbury, writing circa 1400, both describe traditions that St. Bridget visited Glastonbury in 488 AD, spending time at Bride's Mound, where there was an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Relics of hers were left at Bride's Mound where they were displayed in the chapel. Both writers implied that these relics were still at Bride's Mound at the time of their writing.

William of Malmesbury and John of Glastonbury both state that a charter of 670 recorded the granting of lands at Beckery, where Bride's Mound is located. Beckery is also known locally as Little Ireland, though the true derivation of the name is Beo Cere, 'beekeepers island'.

A papal charter of 1168 refers to Beckery as the first of the islands in the Abbey's estate. John of Glastonbury also mentioned a chapel dedicated to St. Bridget which had a special opening in the southern wall which healed those who passed through it. The fields around are still called 'the Brides'.

John of Glastonbury stated that on Wearyall Hill there was 'a monastery of holy virgins' - the first reference to a women's community in the area. He then related a story concerning the visit of King Arthur to Beckery, at which he had a vision of Mary and her son Jesus. At this time a hermit lived on the mound and officiated as priest. As a result of this vision King Arthur became a Christian and changed his coat of arms from a red dragon to one showing Mary and Child.

Legend also relates that this area used to be called the 'women's quarter' because a community of women lived on Bride's Mound after the visit by St Brigid, and a perpetual fire was kept there. In 2004 the flame from the perpetual fire at Kildare in Ireland was brought back to Glastonbury, where it is kept alive today, awaiting the restoration of Bride's Mound.

An Arthurian legend recounts how pilgrims who passed over Pomparles Bridge (the Perilous Way – now the road between Glastonbury and Street, which used to be an oak causeway), had to spend all night in vigil at the chapel before they could pass up the processional way to the holy Isle of Avalon. Bride's Mound was held to be the gateway to Avalon, and the processional way went from there via the Iron Age 'Castle' mount (now destroyed by development) and St Benignus' (Benedict's) church.

There is also said to have been a spring called St Bride's Well which in the 1920s was marked by a stone and a thorn tree on which women would tie rags, as is still the custom in Cornwall. People threw objects into the well for good luck. This stone has now been moved to a place close by the river.

There has been one major excavation of the mound, by Philip Rahtz in the 1960s, funded by the Chalice Well Trust.

From their excavations, they claimed that there is very little evidence from the Neolithic and Iron Age periods apart from some flints and some pottery, similar to that found in the nearby Lake Villages. One theory is that there were jetties along the north side of the island where the lake village people landed their boats.

There were some Roman coins, bronze items and tiles, suggesting that the mound was in continuous use throughout Roman times.

During the Romano-British, Arthurian and early Saxon eras there is evidence of post holes from substantial timber, wattle-and-daub structures. The dating is around 650-900 AD. There are also many burials.

The later Saxon chapel was built around this, suggesting the timber structure was still in use when the stone chapel was built. This suggests that the mound was in constant use and considered to be a holy place. Although there is no archaeological evidence for the period from the end of Roman times (c400 AD) to around 650 the fact that it was used both before and after suggests that the mound has probably been in continuous use since the Neolithic.

There is evidence of domestic occupation during this period, with remains of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry, suggesting a small community lived on the mound.

During the later Saxon era, around 930, a stone chapel and an adjacent house, called the Priests' House, was built. It was used until the 1200s, when a new Norman chapel was built. There is no evidence of a community during this period – merely one caretaker-hermit-priest tending to the chapel. This appears to have been abandoned after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.