Town in Somerset, England
Glastonbury
A town where a king might lie, a thorn tree blooms twice a year, and a milk-fuelled farm party became the biggest greenfield music festival on Earth.
_from_the_tor_arp.jpg){kind=link}
Key information
- County
- Somerset
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Glastonbury Festival, the Tor, the Abbey and King Arthur legends
- What locals are called
- Glastonians
- Famous people
- Saint Dunstan, Richard Whiting, Michael Eavis
About Glastonbury
The island that wasn't an island any more
Before the Somerset Levels were drained, they flooded every winter, and Glastonbury Tor stuck out of the water like a ship's hull. That is why the area was called the Isle of Avalon in legend, long before anyone started painting it on tea towels. The Tor rises 158 metres, and the climb up its grassy terraces rewards you with views across the Levels towards Wells and the Mendips. On top stands a lone tower, all that remains of St Michael's church. Older stories link the hill to Gwyn ap Nudd, a figure from Welsh legend who ruled the Otherworld. The Iron Age people of the region also lived on the water. In 1892 Arthur Bulleid found the remains of a lake village near the town, a cluster of timber-built homes on artificial islands.
The abbey that claimed to have found Arthur
Glastonbury Abbey grew into one of the wealthiest monasteries in England. Saint Dunstan, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of its abbots in the 10th century. After a great fire in 1184, the rebuilding needed money. In 1191 the monks announced they had dug up the bones of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in the grounds. Pilgrims followed, and so did donations. In 1278 Edward I and Queen Eleanor attended the reburial of the remains before the high altar. The abbey's end was brutal. In 1539, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the last abbot, Richard Whiting, was dragged up the Tor and hanged. The ruins of the abbey church can still be walked through, and the Abbot's Kitchen survives as one of the best-preserved medieval kitchens in the country.
A thorn that flowers twice a year
The story goes that Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury and pushed his staff into Wearyall Hill, where it grew into the Glastonbury Thorn. This hawthorn variety does flower twice a year, in spring and around Christmas. The original tree was reportedly cut down by a Puritan soldier during the Civil War. Cuttings had already spread, and one grows in the churchyard of St John's, where a sprig is traditionally sent to the monarch at Christmas. The thorn on Wearyall Hill has been vandalised more than once in modern times, and each time locals have fought to replace it.
The farm party that took over the world
In 1970 a dairy farmer named Michael Eavis was inspired by seeing Led Zeppelin at the Bath Festival and decided to host his own. The first gathering, with Marc Bolan's T. Rex headlining, included free milk from the farm in the ticket price. In 1971 came the Glastonbury Fair and a pyramid-shaped stage, an idea inspired by ideas about earth energies and ley lines. Over the following decades the event grew into a giant temporary city, with around 200,000 people on site at its largest, and it is known worldwide simply as Glastonbury. The festival is taken so seriously that it rests every few years to give the fields a break. Emily Eavis now runs it alongside her father.
Crystals, goddesses and Chalice Well
Walk down the High Street and you will find crystal shops, herbalists, witchcraft suppliers and cafés beside ordinary butchers and bakers. Glastonbury draws pagans, druids, Christians, New Age seekers and day-trippers all at once. Chalice Well, at the foot of the Tor, is a spring that has flowed continuously for centuries and is said to run red because of its iron-rich water. Legend says the Holy Grail was hidden there. Nearby, the White Spring runs with water that leaves a pale deposit. The town also hosts Christian pilgrimages each summer and a Goddess Temple, so there is a ceremony of some kind to suit most people.
What to eat while you're there
This is Somerset, so cider comes first. Orchards ring the town, and a pint of local scrumpy goes well with a ploughman's built around West Country cheddar from nearby Cheddar. Stalls and cafés cater for every diet, a legacy of the town's alternative character. Vegetarian and vegan food is easy to find, often alongside traditional cream teas and pies. To fit in, call yourself a Glastonian, and expect to be asked whether you have climbed the Tor yet.
Related articles
.jpg){kind=link}
Glastonbury Festival
The first Glastonbury cost £1 and came with free milk from the farm. Now it fills a Somerset valley with more than 200,000 people.
Culture & TraditionsThe Tudors
A Welsh family with a bundle of dubious claims won the crown on a muddy Leicestershire field in 1485, then ruled for 118 years and rewrote England's story.
History