Welcome to Glastonbury

Glastonbury is located in the county of Somerset in south-west England, approximately 140 miles west of London and 15 miles east of Bridgwater.

The town has a population of around 8,000. Administratively it is within the local government district of Mendip which covers an area of approximately 740 sq kms and which has a population of around 106,000.

Set against the backdrop of nearby Glastonbury Tor, it is a uniquely fascinating mix of busy market town, religious centre, New Age capital, and place of myth and legend and, unsurprisingly, is a popular tourist destination. There are many interesting speciality shops and historic sites and visitors are offered stunning views of the surrounding countryside from the 160m high tor. The town is also renowned for the annual Glastonbury Festival which takes place in the nearby village of Pilton.

The town is particularly notable for the myths and legends surrounding a nearby hill, rising up from the otherwise flat landscape of the Somerset Levels, which looks man-made (but isn't), Glastonbury Tor. These myths concern Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail, and also King Arthur. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines. The Joseph of Arimathea legend relates to the idea that Glastonbury was the birthplace of Christianity in the British Isles, and that the first British church was built there at Joseph's behest to house the Holy Grail, 30 or so years after the death of Jesus. The legend also says that earlier Joseph had visited Glastonbury along with Jesus as a Child. William Blake believed in this legend and wrote the poem that became the words to the most patriotic of English songs, 'Jerusalem'. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury by boat over the flooded Somerset Levels. On disembarking he stuck his staff into the ground, which flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn (or Holy Thorn). This is the explanation behind the existence of a hybrid hawthorn tree that only grows within a few miles of Glastonbury. This hawthorn flowers twice annually, once in spring and again around Christmas time (depending on the weather). Each year a sprig of thorn is cut by the local Church of England priest and sent to the Queen to feature on her Christmas table top. The original Holy Thorn was a centre of pilgrimage in the middle ages but was chopped down during the English Civil War (in legend the roundhead soldier who did it was blinded by a flying splinter). A replacement thorn was planted in the 20th century on Wearyall hill (originally in 1951 to mark the Festival of Britain; but the thorn had to be replanted the following year as the first attempt did not take); but many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey and Chalice Well. In some versions of the Arthurian myth, Glastonbury is conceived of as the legendary island of Avalon. An early Welsh story links Arthur to the Tor in an account of a face-off between Arthur and the Celtic king, Melwas, who had apparently kidnapped Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. Geoffrey of Monmouth first identified Glastonbury with Avalon in 1133. In 1191, monks at the Abbey claimed to have found the graves of Arthur and Guinevere to the south of the Lady Chapel of the Abbey church, which was visited by a number of contemporary historians including Giraldus Cambrensis. The remains were later moved, and lost during the Reformation. Many scholars suspect that this discovery was a pious forgery to substantiate the antiquity of Glastonbury's foundation, and increase its renown.

Historically the town's economy was based upon agriculture, but today the service industry, including tourism, is the largest sector of the local economy, employing around 62% of all workers.

The town was recorded as Glastingburi in 725AD, and Glaestingeberia in the Domesday Book of 1086.