Here and there: Nine - Abbey and Tor

In the 8th Century Australia didn't exist, the land was there but it was just that, a massive piece of land; at the same time the Glastonbury Abbey church was built...that's over 1200 years ago. Ok, it's just a ruins now (more on that later) but it's still pretty impressive.

My images don't do it justice of course, but when there in person the scope and size of the site, the many buildings that were there and how the entire community operated is quite obvious and it's impressive to say the least. We spent a day there doing a guided tour, wandering and of course, walking up to the top of the Tor.

Glastonbury Abbey's history is well documented including such events as the writing of King Cnut's charter (1032) at the church, the Norman Conquest (William the Conqueror) who claimed it in 1066, the building of the medieval Glastonbury Canal linking the Abbey with the River Brue to bring in building materials and later for trading goods, the resting place (allegedly) of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere and of course it was a church-hotspot, an incredibly wealthy Abbey, something that ultimately brought about its downfall.

After King Henry VIII made himself head of the Church (Church of England) breaking away from Catholicism, and considering the Spanish were threatening, he began the disillusion of the monasteries and the riches seized went to, of course, the royal coffers. Between 1536 and 1541 all of the 850 monasteries in England were pillaged and razed to the ground (destroyed). It weas a lucrative time for King Henry who spent it on warships and defensive castles and whatever else he wanted like his own properties and enjoyment of course.

It's unknown how many were killed in the process, it was more about stripping away and collecting the churches riches, but certainly some were including the Abbot Richard Whiting who presided over Glastonbury Abbey at the time. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Glastonbury Tor in 1539, pictured below.

The tor sits on a hill high up over Glastonbury town, the structure on its top is itself 158 metres in height, and to get there one needs to walk up the Tor's steep sides, some of which has steps cut into it however they're probably quite a recent innovation considering that the human history of the location goes back to the Iron Age (c. 1200 – c. 550 BC). Oh, just to be clear, the Tor is the land formation not the structure which is, in actual fact, St Michael's Tower.

It attracts all sorts of people from history buffs like myself to those seeking some sort of spiritual and mythical connection (which has given rise to a rather tacky tourist trade in Glastonbury itself), and general tourists but I think what is common to all is that it's very impressive and the views from the top are pretty good.