Glastonbury
 King Arthur |
Glastonbury, a small bustling market town serving a wide area, has a long history that is tightly interwoven with mystical associations making it problematic, at times, to separate historical fact from local legend. Evidence of early occupation is ample but shrouded in mystery - prehistoric settlement took place both on the Tor and on and around the surrounding lakes.
At one time Glastonbury may have been an island or at least a peninsula and access, particularly in winter, was fraught with difficulties; when the Somerset Levels lay under water Glastonbury could only realistically be approached by boat. This is reinforced by one of the legends surrounding the town's origins as a Christian sanctuary; it related that Joseph of Arimathea ‘landed' at the settlement, almost certainly by boat.
Many and varied are the richly layered mythologies associated with Glastonbury. Firstly, Joseph of Arimathea, the man who gave his tomb to Christ, is said to have arrived from Jerusalem one Christmas morning in mid 1 st century AD accompanied by eleven disciples, to convert the heathen British to Christianity. Legend has it that on arrival at Glastonbury he leant on his staff in prayer, whereupon, the staff took root, a sign that Joseph should settle and found a religious house there. The holy thorn on Wirrall Hill, believed to have sprung from his staff, was destroyed during the Civil War, 1642-49; however, the celebrated everlasting Christmas flowering thorn, now flourishing in the Abbey grounds, is reputedly the product of a cutting taken from the original. There is no historical evidence for this story of Joseph, although there was almost certainly a religious foundation at Glastonbury as early as the 5 th century. The legend further recounts that Joseph brought with him from the Holy Land the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper, the fabled Holy Grail, and that he buried it near the source of the Chalice Well on Glastonbury Tor. This tale then links up with the Arthurian legends and the knightly quest for the mystical grail.
The Romans, during their sustained occupation, are reputed to have been able to grow vines on the southern slopes of Glastonbury Tor. King Ine built the first monastery on the site in AD688 and it is the burial place of at least three Saxon kings. In Gaelic legend Glastonbury has Irish connections with St Patrick, while Celtic ones link the Welsh St David with the settlement. Most compelling and attractive of all the associated legends is that of Albion's ‘Once and Future King', now sleeping, awaiting the call to arms - most probably the best loved of all British heroes. King Arthur was traditionally brought to Glastonbury, long associated with the blessed Isle of Avalon, having been mortally wounded during the final cataclysmic battle at Slaughter Bridge. Here, he was interred and Queen Guinevere was supposedly buried beside him at a later date. This legend of the double royal burial gained much credence when, in 1191, grave-digging monks allegedly unearthed their bones, Guinevere still distinguishable by some golden locks of hair, which turned to dust when touched. A leaden cross, discovered in the grave, was inscribed in Latin: ‘Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon'. In 1278 the royal corpses were enshrined with great ceremony in the abbey choir. The Chalice Well or ‘blood spring' is linked with the Arthurian legends and the quest for the Holy Grail; the well also has an ancient tradition of healing and in the 18 th centurythis gave the town some reputation as a spa.
The history of Glastonbury Abbey is somewhat sparse; after fire had destroyed its Norman foundations a slow rebuilding programme was undertaken in the 13 th century. What finally arose like a Phoenix from the ashes was the greatest Benedictine establishment in England, a church vast and cathedral-like in its magnificence. St Dunstan, later to become Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced the Benedictine rule and from his appointment seems to stem the rise in wealth and influence of the abbey. Enormous landholdings contributed to the abbey's wealth, which increased throughout the Middle Ages until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, 1536-40. Glastonbury Abbey, its construction only just fully completed, was devastated in 1539 and its last abbot hanged and quartered on the Tor.
Despite being reduced to ruin, some spectacular remains of this once great abbey stand in gaunt defiance. The shell of the Lady Chapel is there and of the naïve, two tall piers and parts of the south wall remain - tantalising fragments tracing, by means of the details of arch and ornament, the transition in style from Norman to Gothic. Standing apart, the unusual Abbot's Kitchen survives intact with its octagonal roof and lantern with smoke-holes - the only evidence of a great complex of secular monastic buildings, once the proud occupants of ground now ceded back to nature.
Other buildings survive outside the precinct, most notably the great 14 th century abbey barn that houses the excellent ‘Somerset Rural Life Museum'. Exhibits include hand tools and horse-age machinery, rural crafts, a wheelwright's shop, cider making and peat digging. Standing in the town's High Street is the ‘Tribunal', the abbey's medieval courthouse with its small, many-windowed 15 th century frontage, where the abbots enjoyed considerable influence - it too is now a museum. The sumptuous façade of the George Hotel is regarded as one of the finest examples of panelled designs, and is one of the few English inns to survive from pre-Reformation times. Founded between 1327-77 as the Pilgrim's Inn, it was rebuilt about 1460 and has continued to offer accommodation to pilgrims ever since. Other notable buildings in the town include St John's Church and St Mary's Almshouses.
Glastonbury Tor is a natural conical hill on the summit of which stands St Michael's Tower, piercing the skyline this is all that remains of a 14 th century church. The Tor, together with its tower, stands as one of the most potent landmarks in Britain, rising high above the flat plains of the Somerset Levels its misty semblance is visible across many a long mile. The eye is drawn instinctively toward the physical representation of Glastonbury myth and legend.
One of the mysteries of the area and near impossible to spot except from the air, is the ‘Glastonbury Zodiac'. A circle, 15 miles across and centred on Butleigh, it has the signs of the zodiac as raised ridges on the ground; no one has yet fathomed by whom, why and how these were created. Irregular mounds, viewed from the Godney Road, just outside Glastonbury, are the ancient sites of a prehistoric lake village discovered in 1892. Possibly dating from 150 BC the village was constructed on platforms to lift it above the swamp levels. Artefacts retrieved from excavations can be viewed in the Tribunal Museum and the Lake Village Museum. In the earliest recorded history for this region, man occupied islands and ridges in flooded marshland from which the waters only receded in summer, leaving uncovered pastureland the Saxons called somer saete , summer pasture, thereby giving name to the county. For much of the year the area around Glastonbury remained inaccessible, uncomfortable and unpopular, and this is how it remained, by and large, until the land was drained by a web of rhines or ditches dug between the 17 th and 19 th centuries. The Somerset Levels Project has been excavating in the area for some years, and the principal features revealed by the excavations are ancient tracks that have existed from prehistoric times. One of the most recent excavations is of the Sweet Track dated to 3200BC, considered to be the oldest ‘road' in the world.