During my 2nd year in uni, my course required me to take a field trip for 2 weeks to give our surveying skills a practical run. The place that was selected for that particular year was Somerset and at first, the significance of the site didn't hit me until several hours later when i was on the Tube on the way home..."Waitaminute...isn't that where Glastonbury town is?" Turns out that it was and you know what meant? It meant several things : 1. Stonehenge was on the way 2. Glastonbury town was home to many Arthurian legends 3. Glastonbury was a town out of time, with hippies and a countryside undisturbed by progress 4. I had a choice of dozens of new age shops, quaint antique dealers, medieval weapon shops, and other fascinating outlets.
I grew up on the legends of King Arthur, The Holy Grail, Camelot and the Isle Of Avalon and to be spending 2 weeks in the very heart of all these legends literally had me shaking with excitement. Looking back now, the preparations and packing was a blur to me all the way up till we stopped in the parking lot near Stonehenge. Oh my Devas! To touch those hallowed stones was a fantasy from my childhood days! But imagine my disappointment when i learned that we could no longer touch the stones nor get within 10m of them! Since 1978, visitors have been prohibited from touching the stones in the interest of protecting them. While i understand the reason behind this ruling and even support it, i couldn't help but feel crushed by being so near yet so far. Gazing at them and posing near them just wasn't going to cut it so i made a silent gesture of respect in my mind towards these ancient monoliths and made my way back to the van, leaving behind the throngs of earphone-wearing tourists being audio-guided around the site.
Mysterious Stonehenge
We drove along for 2 more hours before we finally hit Glastonbury town.It was surreal seeing woodstock-style vans and hippies who looked like they were smoking pot minutes ago. There were no skyscrapers or modern shopping complexes here to ruin the antiquated setting and i was looking forward to walking around town and exploring during my free time later but more on that later...
Now here's the kicker...i stayed at this rustic little farmhouse just at the edge of town. This was to be my home for the next 2 weeks and i was to share it with my classmates : A Brit who had was a tad too weird to be comfortable around, a chain-smoking HK girl, a huge brawny guy from a Carribean country (slipped my mind at the moment), a Dutch girl that's tops in the class, and a guy from Sabah that can barely speak English and needed me to translate for him when he wanted to borrow the HK girl's handphone. Yes, an interesting mix i know...but i digress...
The kicker is that the farmhouse was located almost at the foot of Glastonbury Tor! For those of you who are wondering what i'm blabbering about, here it is :
Glastonbury Tor from above
This hill rises 522 feet above sea level, dominates the Glastonbury landscape, and is visible for miles in the surrounding countryside. Before the marshes were drained, this hill gave the appearance of an island and perhaps gave birth to the myth of the Isle of Avalon. The hill is the oldest and most involved location on the site. Long before the construction of the chapel that sits atop, the mound of Earth, a natural feature, was once a fortress with a wooden wall surrounding the hill at the bottom. The mound has been carved with a trail that winds around and up to the top. The trail is very old and is believed to have been first carved by Druids for this ancient site of worship. Some investigators believe the trail was carved by the Knights Templar as a marker for this site to link it with the Holy Grail. In the oldest legends, Celtic, the hill is supposed to be hollow and walking the trail eventually ends at a gateway at the top which leads to the spirit world. At some of the oldest surrounding graveyards it was discovered that all the graves point directly to the hill. In Christian legends the messiah is slated to reappear at this site.
This is just a short summary of the Tor but there is a large body of literature on the rich history and legends surrounding Glastonbury Tor. For the Celtics, the Tor was believed to be the entrance to Annwfn, the Celtic Otherworld, and to the Palace of Gwynn ap Nudd, Afallach's brother and the main Otherworld Celtic god. Celtic legends claim the hill itself is/was hollow and that it was the entrance to the Celtic Underworld. Arthurian legends have both Merlin or King Arthur as possibly sleeping within the hollow hill. Later Christian legends have the second coming of Christ dwelling in the hollow as the 'sleeping lord' or even Joseph of Arimathea's resting place where he guards the Holy Grail. Other folk tales claim the top of the Tor is a place of fairy visions and magic. With my head filled with these legends, how could i *not* be awestruck by living at the foot of such a place? Needless to say, the moment i got my stuff stowed away under my bed and listening to the boring briefing by my lecturer, i left in the late afternoon to walk the path up to the Tor, the trail that led to the gateway to the Underworld itself!
The silent tower
The walk took about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace and didn't really manage to wind me (though my rather heavyset Brit friend was pretty red-faced at the end of it) At the summit, the view was spectacular since it afforded visitors with a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. I must add that the wind was blowing something fierce up here but i'm told that it's always like that so little ol' me had to be careful not to be swept off the edge and visiting the Underworld via a more direct route. The solitary tower is the remains of St Michael's Tower, the place of execution by hanging of the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey. The tower is all that remains of the church that was dedicated to St Michael, which fell during an earthquake in 1275. As you can see in the photo above, the tower is roofless as well but the tower had been restored in recent years so its condition is pretty respectable. In truth, there isn't much for the eye but there is much for the mind though. This is assuming you know of the folklore surrounding the Tor and just standing there gave me an experience that was far-surpassing. The intention of my posts are to give you lovely people some background on these wonderful sites so that if you ever have the privilege of visiting them, you can be better equipped to appreciate the experience. It might also be of interest for you to know that in 1981, several people climbing the Tor in the late evening saw a strange writhing light, which arced from the tower and earthed itself near to Chalice Well. The earth mysteries researcher Paul Devereux also witnessed strange lights in 1991. Since the Tor is located on ley lines, it is plausible that the Tor could be a focal point for earth energies that might manifest given certain circumstances. Sadly, i wasn't fortunate enough to be witness to any of these nor was i lucky enough to be roasted (a little) by energies. Still, i could hope...
In any case, i will return to this topic in future posts since the Tor is intricately linked to the entire Arthurian mythos...till later, fellow weirdos.
