The Tor and the Thorn: Glastonbury

 

Stand on top of the Tor, and see the Salisbury Plain spread below like a tapestry, and it's easy to imagine King Arthur and of Guinevere riding with their court across the green lands around Glastonbury:

The hills have on their royal robes
        Of purple and of gold,
And over their tops the autumn clouds
        In heaps are onward rolled;
Below them spreads the fairest plain
        That British eye may see--
From Quantock to the Mendip range,
        A broad expanse and free.

-excerpt from The Ballad of Glastonbury by Henry Alford (1810-1871)

Glastonbury has inspired poets and writers for centuries, most notably William Wordsworth, who wrote several poems, all similar in theme, about Salisbury Plain. Today Glastonbury hosts a festival that includes a popular poetry and spoken word stage.

Is that a knight behind me??? I don't recall anyone being behind me when I snapped this selfie.

And no wonder this place inspires writers.

My sisters and I made an early start to climb Glastonbury Tor, a high, oddly-shaped hill that dominates the flat plains that surround it. You might think, as I did, that the hill was manmade, since there are so many mounds and standing stones in the area, but the Tor (which simply means hill) is a natural formation.

A cheery little robin greeted us as we started up the path.

The beginning of the path. You can see the tip of the tower to left top center.

Our b&b was located just a few feet from the footpath leading up the Tor. We were glad to be there early, as the air was still cool and there were few people around. The path is steep, some of it steps, a bit of it concrete and some just gravel. It but basically goes almost straight up. The Tor is 518 feet above sea level, while the town surrounding it is only 42 feet above sea level, so you can see how steep the incline of the hill is.

But the climb is well worth the work. The view is 360 degrees, and simply stunning.

The tower on top of the hill is St. Michael's Tower, and was built in the 1300's as part of a church. There was another church that pre-dated St' Michael's, built of wood, but it was destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1275 (I would never think of an earthquiake in England!).

The acoustics in the roofless tower are pretty nice. I tried out a song up there just to see, and some visitors from Portugal seemed to enjoy it. There is just something about singing in such ancient, stories places.

There is a legend that Guinevere was once kept prisoner in St. Michael's Tower. The website Early British Kingdoms gives this story as the basis of the legend:

"In Caradog of Llancarfan's Life of St. Gildas, written around 1130, can be found a story telling of St. Gildas' intervention between King Arthur and one King Melwas of the "Summer Country". Melwas had abducted Guinevere to his stronghold at Glastonbury, where Arthur soon arrived to besiege him. However, Gildas, ever the peacemaker, persuaded Melwas to release the Guinevere and the two monarchs soon reconciled their differences. The story can also be found in a Welsh poem known as The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhwyfar, the surviving manuscripts of which date from the 16th century. Chrétien is best known for his use of the episode in his Lancelot story, but here the Knight was said to have killed Melwas (alias Meleagaunce), while St. Gildas is never mentioned." 

The website also notes archeolgical findings that indicate the Tor has been used for religious/spiritual purposes as far back as neolithic times.

A seashell in the stone, this far from the sea.

My sisters examining the directional disc on top of the Tor.

We noticed that there was another, perhaps even steeper and more direct route up the Tor, but we opted to go back down the way we came up. We passed many other "pilgrims" making their way up the hill, and a circle in a small, slightly flatter area was evidently involved in a spiritual ritual of their own. This wasn't surprising, as the whole area around Glastonbury is home to many groups of all kinds of spiritual leanings, from pagans and witches to fundamental Christians and many others. Many people believe the area has a mystical power, and tours bring people there for spiritual pilgrimages. 

After getting back to our car at the b&b, we made our way to the town of Glastonbury. The GPS did not fail to mislead us once again, and what should have been a 5-minute trip turned into an hour's drive. Ah me. 

St. Peter's Chapel

Old abbey ruins in Glastonbury are fascinating to visit. A small chapel (St. Peter's) built in the 11th century is a reminder of how short people were in the past--the door was about 5 1/2 feet tall. 

Such lovely gardens.

In the garden of the abbey is a tree that I wrote about in this post. The Glastonbury Thorn, the original of which supposedly sprung from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea who, as legend has it, visited the area and pushed his walking stick into the ground, where it took root. Also according to legend, the tree would bloom twice a year, once in the Spring (around Easter) and again in the winter around Christmas. 

Yet another old legend says that the graves of Arthur and Guinevere are at Glastonbury, and indeed in the 1100's the monks of the abbey claimed that they had dug up the (neatly labeled) graves. The.re is some doubt about this claim, as the discovery came very neatly at a time when the abbey was in dire need of funds. The site is still marked today, however. 

There is yet another story that the graves are actually on the Tor. So who knows? There are of course many who think that Arthur never existed, and the stories are only just that, stories for entertainment. I think I prefer to believe in the myth of Arthur and his Round Table. Glastonbury, by the way, is believed to be the place called Avalon in Arthurian legends.

One of the best-preserved buildings of the abbey is the Abbott's Kitchen. 

It's a spectacular round building with ovens on all sides, and it's evident that enormous quantities of food could have been prepared in there. Again, wonderful acoustics. I sang again, not my best but this time I remembered to record:

Finally it was lunch time. We found a nice cafe with outdoor tables, and enjoyed watching the colorful parade of people on Glastonbury's interesting streets.

Finally, it was time to leave Glastonbury and begin the next leg of our journey: to Boscastle, in Cornwall.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.