Glastonbury Tor
A hill that was once an island, a tower with no church, and a fairy king's fortress: Glastonbury Tor has been mistaken for Avalon for centuries.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Glastonbury, Somerset
- Height
- About 158 metres (518 feet) above sea level, rising steeply above the Somerset Levels
- Landmark feature
- St Michael's Tower, the surviving tower of a medieval church
- Tower dates from
- 14th century, after an earlier church was wrecked by an earthquake in 1275
- Geology
- Soft clays and sandstones capped by a harder layer that protected the hill from erosion
- Owned by
- The National Trust, since 1933
- Legendary links
- Avalon, King Arthur, Gwyn ap Nudd and Joseph of Arimathea
- Famous event
- The execution of Abbot Richard Whiting on the hill, 15 November 1539
The island that used to be an island
Before the Somerset Levels were drained, this was a real island. Every winter the surrounding wetlands flooded, and the Tor stood up out of the water like a ship's hull. Early writers called the area the Isle of Avalon, and it is easy to see why the name stuck. The hill's odd, whale-backed shape comes from geology rather than magic. Soft clays and sandstones make up most of it, but a tougher cap of sandstone on top resisted erosion while the land around was worn away. What was left is the profile you can spot from miles away across the flat country. That visibility is half the Tor's appeal. It dominates the skyline, and from the top you look out across the Levels towards Wells, the Mendips and, on a clear day, the Bristol Channel.
A tower with no church
The roofless tower on the summit is all that survives of the church of St Michael. An earlier church on the hill was destroyed by an earthquake in 1275, and the tower that stands today belongs to its 14th-century successor. Look closely at the tower and you can find carved figures, including a woman milking a cow, usually identified as St Bridget. The dedication to St Michael, the dragon-slaying archangel, suited a hilltop that was thought to be a gateway between worlds. The rest of the church vanished after the Dissolution. The tower stayed, partly because it made such a good landmark.
The day an abbot was hanged on the hill
The Tor's grimmest moment came on 15 November 1539. Richard Whiting, the last Abbot of Glastonbury, was taken up the hill, hanged, and then beheaded and quartered by order of Henry VIII's government. He was condemned for alleged treason during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, after accusations that included hiding abbey valuables. The abbey in the town below had been one of the richest monasteries in England. Its destruction, and Whiting's death on its most prominent hill, made the Tor a symbol of what the Dissolution cost.
Fairy kings, Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea
Glastonbury collects legends the way other places collect souvenirs. In the Welsh tale of St Collen, the saint visits a splendid palace on the Tor and finds it ruled by Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the fairies and the underworld. Collen flicks holy water about and the whole scene vanishes. In 1191 monks at Glastonbury Abbey announced that they had found the grave of King Arthur and Guinevere. Soon Glastonbury was being identified with Avalon, the island where Arthur was taken after his last battle. Whether the monks' discovery was genuine or a clever bit of fundraising, it fixed the link in the public imagination. Another tradition says Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury and founded the first Christian church in Britain. Later versions add that he brought the Holy Grail, a story that has been told and retold for centuries but has no known roots in the earliest accounts.
What are those ridges all over the hillside?
Walk up and you will notice that the Tor's flanks are stepped with seven terraces. Nobody agrees on what they are. Medieval farming terraces are one explanation, defensive earthworks another. The most famous theory sees them as a giant three-dimensional maze or labyrinth, an idea popularised in the 20th century by writers such as Geoffrey Russell. It is a wonderful picture, but the terraces may simply be a practical solution to farming a very steep slope. Excavations in the 1960s, led by Philip Rahtz, found evidence of occupation on the hilltop in the post-Roman period, suggesting that people were living or worshipping up there well before the medieval tower.
Climbing it, and what to look for
The Tor is a steady climb on a well-trodden path, and it is worth timing for sunrise or sunset, when the tower stands out against a huge Somerset sky. In winter mists, the surrounding Levels can fill with fog, leaving the hilltop poking out like an island once again. On the summit, look for the carvings on the tower, then turn around slowly. Glastonbury's streets and abbey ruins lie below, and the landscape runs out across the Levels in every direction. The Glastonbury Festival is usually held in late June at Worthy Farm in Pilton, a few miles away, with occasional fallow years. The Tor is a long-standing symbol of the festival's wider setting. The hill itself is quietest early in the morning, which is also when the views feel most mythical.
Notable people
- Richard Whiting
- Gwyn ap Nudd
- St Collen
- Joseph of Arimathea
- King Arthur
- Philip Rahtz
- Geoffrey Russell
- Henry VIII
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