Glastonbury
is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town has a population of 8,800.
The town is known for its history, including Glastonbury Lake Village, Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset Rural Life Museum and Glastonbury Tor, the many myths and legends associated with the town, and the Glastonbury Festival which takes place in the nearby village of Pilton.
On the south west of the town centre is Beckery
which used to be a village in its own right but is now part of the suburbs. [The name for the village is derived from Bec Eriu
, Old Irish for "Little Ireland". The name was likely brought to England by an Irishman recruited by Vikings. In the c.7th/8th centuries it was occupied by a small monastic community associated with a cemetery. [1] [2]
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GLASTONBURY TICKETS
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History
Toponymy
The origin of the name Glastonbury is unclear but when the settlement is first recorded in the 7th and the early 8th century, it was called
Glestingaburg
. The
burg
element is
Anglo-Saxon and could refer either to a fortified place such as a
burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure, however the
Glestinga
element is obscure, and may derive from an
Old English word or from a
Saxon or
Celtic personal name.
[3]
William of Malmesbury in his
De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie
gives the Old Celtic
Ineswitrin
(or
Ynys Witrin
) as its earliest name,
[4] and asserts that the founder of the town was the eponymous Glast, a descendant of
Cunedda.
General history
During the 7th millennium BC the sea level rose and flooded the valleys and low lying ground surrounding Glastonbury so the
Mesolithic people occupied seasonal camps on the higher ground, indicated by scatters of flints.
[5] The
Neolithic people continued to exploit the reedswamps for their natural resources and started to construct wooden trackways. These included the
Sweet Track, west of Glastonbury, which is one of the oldest engineered roads known and the oldest
timber trackway discovered in
Northern Europe. Tree-ring dating (
dendrochronology) of the timbers has enabled very precise dating of the track, showing it was built in 3807 or 3806 BC.
[6] It has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world.
[7]
The track was discovered in the course of peat digging in 1970, and is named after its discoverer, Ray Sweet.
[8] It extended across the
marsh between what was then an island at
Westhay, and a ridge of high ground at
Shapwick, a distance close to 2,000 metres (about 1.24 miles). The track is one of a network of tracks that once crossed the
Somerset Levels. Built in the 39th century BC,
during the Neolithic period, the track consisted of crossed poles of
ash,
oak and lime (
Tilia
) which were driven into the waterlogged soil to support a walkway that mainly consisted of oak planks laid end-to-end. Curves at the bases of the poles show that they were from
coppiced woodland.
Most of the track remains in its original location, and several hundred metres of it are now actively conserved using a pumped water distribution system. Other portions are stored at the
British Museum,
London, while a reconstruction can be seen at the
Peat Moors Centre near Glastonbury. Since the discovery of the Sweet Track, it has been determined that it was actually built along the route of an even earlier track, the
Post Track
, dating from 3838 BC and so 30 years older.
[9]
Glastonbury Lake Village was an
Iron Age village, close to the old course of the
River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near
Godney, some north west of Glastonbury. It covers an area of north to south by east to west,
[10] and housed around 100 people in five to seven groups of houses, each for an extended family, with sheds and barns, made of
hazel and
willow covered with reeds, and surrounded either permanently or at certain times by a wooden
palisade. The village was built in about 300 BC and occupied into the early Roman period (around 100AD) when it was abandoned, possibly due to a rise in the water level.
[11] It was built on a morass on an artificial foundation of timber filled with brushwood, bracken, rubble and clay.
[12]
During the Middle Ages the town largely depended on the abbey but also had important interests in the wool trade which reduced in the 18th century. A
Saxon-era canal connected the Abbey to the River Brue.
The towns charter of incorporation was received in 1705.
Growth in the trade and economy was largely depended on the drainage of the surrounding moors. The opening of the
Glastonbury Canal did cause an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building.
, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was executed with two of his monks on 15 November, 1539 during the dissolution of the monasteries.
Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when
cannabis plants were found in the town's floral displays.
[13] [14]
Mythology and legends
Glastonbury is notable for myths and legends concerning
Joseph of Arimathea, the
Holy Grail and
King Arthur. The legend that
Joseph of Arimathea retrieved certain holy relics was introduced by the French poet
Robert de Boron in his 13th century version of the grail story, thought to have been a trilogy though only fragments of the later books survive today. The work became the inspiration for the later Vulgate Cycle of Arthurian tales.
[15]
De Boron's account relates how Joseph captured Jesus' blood in a cup (the "Holy Grail") which was subsequently brought to Britain. The
Vulgate Cycle reworked Boron's original tale. Joseph of Arimathea was no longer the chief character in the Grail origin: Joseph's son, Josephus, took over his role of the Grail keeper.
[16]
The earliest versions of the grail romance, however, do not call the grail "holy" or mention anything about blood, Joseph or Glastonbury.
In 1191,
monks at the abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady
Chapel of the Abbey church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including
Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved and were lost during the
Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown.
In some Arthurian literature Glastonbury is identified with the legendary island of
Avalon. An early Welsh poem links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a confrontation between Arthur and Melwas, who had apparently kidnapped
Queen Guinevere. According to some versions of the Arthurian legend,
Lancelot retreated to Glastonbury Abbey in penance following the death of Arthur.
Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground and it flowered miraculously into the
Glastonbury Thorn (or Holy Thorn). This is the explanation of a hybrid
hawthorn tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury, that flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut, by the local Anglican vicar and the eldest child from St John's School, and sent to the Queen.
The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages but was chopped down during the
English Civil War (in legend the roundhead soldier who did it was blinded by a flying splinter). A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the
Festival of Britain; but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take). Many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, St Johns Church and
Chalice Well.
Today,
Glastonbury Abbey presents itself as "traditionally the oldest above-ground Christian church in the World," which according to the legend was built at Joseph's behest to house the
Holy Grail, 65 or so years after the death of
Jesus. The legend also says that earlier Joseph had visited Glastonbury along with Jesus as a child. The legend probably was encouraged in the
mediaeval period when religious relics and pilgrimages were profitable business for abbeys.
William Blake mentioned the legend in a poem that became a popular hymn, 'Jerusalem' (see
And did those feet in ancient time).
Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several
ley lines.
Governance
Glastonbury is in the
Mendip local government district which is part of the county of
Somerset.
It falls within the
Wells constituency represented in the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one
Member of Parliament (MP) by the
first past the post system of election. The current MP is
David Heathcoat-Amory, a member of the
Conservative Party.
[17]
It is within the
South West England (European Parliament constituency) which elects 7
MEPs using the
d'Hondt method of
party-list proportional representation.
Geography
The walk up the Tor to the distinctive tower at the summit (the partially restored remains of an old church) is rewarded by vistas of the Mid-Somerset area including the Levels, drained marshland. From there, above sea level
[18], it is easy to appreciate how Glastonbury was once an island and, in the winter, the surrounding moors are often flooded, giving that appearance once more. It is an agricultural region typically with open fields of permanent
grass, surrounded by ditches with
willow trees. Access to the Moors and Levels is by
"droves", i.e. green lanes. The Levels and inland Moors can be below peak tides and have large areas of
peat. Although underlain by much older
Triassic age
[19] [20] formations that protrude to form what would once have been islands—such
Glastonbury Tor. The lowland landscape was formed only during the last 10,000 years, following the end of the last
ice age. Glastonbury Tor is composed of Upper
Lias Sand.
[21]
Glastonbury is less than across the
River Brue from the village of
Street.
Economy
Glastonbury today is a centre for religious tourism and
pilgrimage. Diverse strains of
mysticism and
paganism co-exist alongside the followers of its Catholic heritage. As with many towns of similar size, the centre is not as thriving as it once was but Glastonbury supports a remarkable number of alternative shops. The outskirts of the town include a
DIY shop and the slow redevelopment of a former
sheepskin and slipper factory site, once owned by
Morlands. Although the redevelopment has been slow, clearance of the site has begun with a dramatic change to its appearance.
Landmarks
The
Tribunal, was a
medieval merchant's house. It was used as the Abbey courthouse, and during the
Monmouth Rebellion trials by
Judge Jeffreys.
[22] It now serves as a museum containing possessions and works of art from the
Glastonbury Lake Village which were preserved in almost perfect condition in the peat after the village was abandoned. It also houses the
tourist information centre.
The octagonal Market Cross was built in 1846 by
Benjamin Ferrey.
[23]
The
Somerset Rural Life Museum is a museum of the social and agricultural history of Somerset, housed in buildings surrounding a 14th century
barn once belonging to
Glastonbury Abbey. It was used for the storage of arable produce, particularly wheat and rye, from the abbey's home farm of approximately . Threshing and winnowing would also have been carried out in the barn. The barn which was built from local 'shelly'
limestone, with thick timbers supporting the stone tiling of the roof. It has been designated by
English Heritage as a grade I
listed building,
[24] and is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument. After the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 the barn was given to the
Duke of Somerset. By the early 20th century it was being used as a farm store by the Mapstone family. In 1974 they donated it to Somerset County Council and between 1976 and 1978 underwent restoration.
The
Chalice Well is a holy
well situated at the foot of the Tor. The natural spring has been in almost constant use for at least two thousand years. Water issues from the spring at a rate of 25,000
gallons per day and has never failed, even during drought.
Iron oxide deposits give water a reddish hue, as dissolved
ferrous oxide becomes oxygenated at the surface and is precipitated. Like the hot springs in nearby
Bath, the water is believed to possess healing qualities. The well itself is built of stone blocks and forms 2 underground chambers, the inner one reached through an archway at the foot of the west wall of the well-shaft. Total depth is about Wooden well-cover with wrought-iron decoration made in 1919.
[25] In addition to the legends associated with Glastonbury, the Well is often portrayed as a symbol of the female aspect of
deity, with the male symbolised by
Glastonbury Tor. As such, it is a popular destination for
pilgrims in search of the
divine feminine, including modern
Pagans. The Well is however popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden.
Transport
The
Glastonbury Canal ran just over through two
locks from Glastonbury to
Highbridge where it entered the
Bristol Channel in the early 1800s, however this became uneconomic with the arrival of the railway.
Glastonbury and Street was the biggest station on the original
Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway main line from Highbridge to
Evercreech Junction until closed in 1966 under the
Beeching axe. It was the junction for the short branch line to
Wells which closed in 1951.
Road transport is provided by the
A39 which passes through Glastonbury from
Wells connecting the town with
Street and the
M5 motorway. The other roads around the town are small and run across the levels generally following the drainage ditches.
Education
There are several infant and primary schools in Glastonbury and the surrounding villages. Secondary education for 11 - 16 year olds is provided by
St Dunstan's Community School.
Strode College in
Street provides academic and vocational courses for those aged 16–18 and adult education.
Religious sites
Image:Glastonburyabbey.jpg|thumb|left
|Ruins of
Glastonbury Abbey.
The ruins of the
abbey are open to visitors; the abbey had a violent end during the
Dissolution and the buildings were progressively destroyed as their stones were removed for use in local building work. The remains of the Abbot's Kitchen (a grade I
listed building.
[26]) and the
Lady Chapel are particularly well-preserved. Not far away is situated the
Somerset Rural Life Museum, which includes the restored Abbey Barn.
[27] Other points of interest include
St. John's Church, the
Chalice Well, and the historic
George and Pilgrims Inn,
[28] built to accommodate visitors to the Abbey.
The Church of St Benedict was rebuilt by
Abbot Beere in about 1520.
[29]
The
Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.
[30]
Sports
The local football side is
Glastonbury F.C.
Glastonbury Cricket Club competes in the
West of England Premier League, one of the
ECB Premier Leagues which are the highest level of recreational cricket in England and Wales. The club plays at the former Morlands Athletic Ground which used to stage
Somerset County Cricket Club first-class fixtures.
Notable people
- Gary Stringer, lead singer of Reef, attended St Dunstan's school in Glastonbury for a brief period.
- Richard Whiting was the last Abbot of Glastonbury.
- The occultist and writer Dion Fortune lived and is buried in Glastonbury.
- Frederick Bligh Bond, archaeologist and writer
- The writer and historian Geoffrey Ashe, known for his works on local legends, lives in Glastonbury, in the house that had once belonged to Dion Fortune.
- The juggler Haggis McLeod and his late wife, Arabella Churchill
See also
- A Glastonbury Romance
by John Cowper Powys
- Landscape Zodiac
References
- Water and wetlands in medieval estate management: Glastonbury Abbey, Meare and the Somerset Levels in South West England
- Anglo-Saxon Glastonbury: Church and Endowment
- Glastonbury
- Speculum, Vol. 10, No. 1: The Origin of the Name of Glastonbury p46-53
- Historical Monitoring in the Somerset Levels and Moors ESA 1987–1994
- The day the Sweet Track was built
- Special issue on Wetlands / The Somerset Levels
- The Somerset Levels
- The Somerset Wetlands
- Glastonbury Lake Village
- A field guide to Somerset archeology
- Iron Age Communities in Britain (4th Ed)
- Glastonbury
- Hemp-lover in court over pot plants
- [1]Project Gutenburg - french text of ''Le Roman de I'Estoire dou Graal''
- [1] Vulgate Cycle Arthurian Legends
- Alphabetical List of Constituencies and Members of Parliament
- http://www.glastonburytor.org.uk/conservation.html
- Somerset
- Somerset Levels and Moors Natural Area - A nature conservation profile July 1997
- The Geology of Somerset
- The Tribunal
- Market Cross
- Abbey Tithe Barn, including attached wall to east
- The Chalice Well
- Abbot's Kitchen, Glastonbury Abbey
- Abbey Tithe Barn
- George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn
- Church of St Benedict
- Church of St John the Baptist