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The Isle of GlassJul 10 '02 (Updated Jul 20 '02) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line This small town has played a pivotal role in the making British and English history. It is at the heart of some powerful and ancient British myths Glastonbury is a small historic town in the south west of England. In recent times it has become famous for its large annual Pop Festival, but this small town holds a pivotal position in British history and has been the focus for intense investigation and speculation for many generations. So why would this quaint small town be so important to British history ? Glastonbury is located within that mysterious region of south west England that includes within a fifty mile radius Stonehenge, the even larger Avebury stone circle, Silbury Hill, the White Horse of Uffington and numerous other ancient pre-Christian sites. It is an extraordinary and little understood pre-Christian landscape. The town is dominated by Glastonbury Tor, an odd shaped hill surmounted by St Michael's Tower which stands in isolation in the centre of the Somerset Levels. The association with St Michael is not an accident. He is the legendary Christian tamer of the pagan Dragon. The ancient Britons believed that the sea and islands were sacred and this ancient tradition continued even after they became the first British Christians. Iona, Lindisfarne, Anglesey even Mont St Michelle across the channel in northern France are all examples of ancient island Christian centres. In ancient times this plain was wet land and the Tor was essentially an inland island. On one of our visits we awoke one morning to find a dense sea mist had rolled in across the plain leaving the “island“ Tor as the only visible point for miles. The story of the arrival of Christianity in Britain is truly fascinating and Glastonbury plays a key part in British Christian tradition. According to legend Joseph of Armithea the wealthy trader who provided Christ with a tomb, visited Britain with the infant Christ and later founded the first Christian community at Glastonbury. He reputedly brought with him a chalice containing some of Christ's blood, the legendary Holy Grail. Off course no one can prove any of this but as result Glastonbury became a major pilgrimage centre and a large powerful monastery grew up in the town. After the collapse of Roman power, Briton descended into a period of prolonged civil war. By 600 AD the Anglo Saxons “migrations” from the Low Countries were in full flow and the new English nation was gaining power in the east and threatening the very existence of this ancient British region. This struggle for supremacy is personalised in the figure of Arthur the mythical King of the Britons, who successfully repulsed the Anglo Saxons for the period of his reign. It is no co-incidence that King Arthur’s tomb was (allegedly) in Glastonbury. (I use the word “allegedly” simply because there is little to substantiate any of this). These legends were undoubtedly used for propaganda purposes both at this time and later, their message is simple and powerful.. “we (and not Canterbury) are the most important and ancient Christian centre in Briton established by Christ himself, and the last resting place of King Arthur and even though we have been subjugated our right to independent nationhood and religious power remains.“ Faced with the continued expansion of the Anglo Saxon kingdoms, the Pope decided to send St Augustine to establish an archbishopric at Canterbury in the east as the centre of English Christianity. This outraged the British Christians who saw their largely Christian population being overwhelmed by the largely pagan Anglo Saxons. Eventually the Britons in southern England were subjugated or fled to struggle on in the north or west into Wales, many crossed the sea and fled to Brittany in France. But while Glastonbury's monastery existed it remained a potent symbol of British as opposed to English authority with its more ancient British lineage. When the Normans landed in southern Britain in 1066 their claim to lands in England were based on re-establishing the ancient supremacy of the Britons and many of these invaders were descendants of those who had fled the Anglo Saxons. Over subsequent centuries successive monarchs rejected or promoted Glastonbury’s legends according to their personal ambitions and affiliations. A further development of the Glastonbury legend claims that the New Jerusalem will be established at Glastonbury when Christ returns. The poet William Blake’s famous and evocative poem “Jerusalem” was based on this powerful myth…”and did those feet in ancient times walk upon England’s pastures green….and was Jerusalem builded here among the dark satanic mills” Picking up on this idea, the Hippies adopted Glastonbury as a “new age” centre and flocked there in their thousands, and while awaiting the “New Age” they established the pop festival. Today the local gift shops are crammed with “New Age” publications…containing a whole raft of extraordinary claims about Glastonbury the New Jerusalem, some claim that the surrounding landscape was created to mirror the heavens and that the star signs are visible in aerial photographs.. and that Glastonbury is at the centre of a network of psychic powerlines ! After you have settled into your “New Age” B&B, I would recommend a couple of glasses of the local scrumpy which is a “rough” farmhouse cider and then all this becomes quite possible. With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII Glastonbury’s Abbey fell into ruin and its huge religious authority was abruptly ended, but the power of these ancient myths remains undiminished, attracting many thousands of visitors every year. http://www.glastonburyabbey.com The people of south west of England have an interesting independent local tradition, interwoven threads of British Christian and pagan legend give the area a quite distinctive and interesting feel. The history of Glastonbury gives us a convincing explanation of why we British have this curiously split sense of nationhood.. we are both English and British at the same time ! The Glastonbury area left me with a strong impression of a continuity of tradition from the pre-Christian to the present. Whereas many areas of England seem to have largely forgotten these most ancient roots, in this area these traditions seem valued, even though it is easy to believe this has as much to do with value the tourism these days nonetheless this ancient tradition remains a vital part of community life. I would certainly recommend Glastonbury as a good base from which to visit the many Christian and Pre-Christian sites of this extraordinarily interesting historic part of England. For British history and mythology buffs Glastonbury is a "must" visit, it is one of those rare places were the events and myths and seem woven into the fabric of the place. Even if you are not particularly interested in history you will find the landscapes and sites of the area worth a visit. Although I have visited Glastonbury several times I must admit the last time I stayed in Glastonbury we were camping so my knowledge of local accommodation is limited. But as a major tourist destination you will not be surprised to find plenty of accommodation in the town and wider area to suite most budgets. http://www.glastonburytic.co.uk/  |
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