Isle of Avalon - Glastonbury

<BODY> <H1><A HREF="avalon-intro1.html">What's special about Glastonbury?</A></H1> <P>Glastonbury is a small town in England's South-West, three hours from London, Heathrow airport and Birmingham, and one hour south of Bristol.</P> <P>It isn't an ordinary English town. Arrive here, and quickly you're in another realm.</P> <P>It's a pilgrimage place. People come here from all over Britain and the world. Many remember it a long time, or visit regularly.</P> <P>It's a place for interesting experiences, meeting people, unusual events. It <I>does</I> something to you.</P> <H2><B><I>This England's holyiest earthe</I></B></H2> <P>500-1,000 years ago Glastonbury Abbey was one of Europe's greatest, and the town grew up to service it. King Arthur and Guinevere were reputed to be buried here, and many saints once lived here  Patrick, David, Bridget, Benedictus, Dunstan.</P> <P>Tradition has it that Joseph of Arimathaea and his early Christian followers found refuge on Avalon, to found the world's first purpose-built church. Christian five centuries before Canterbury, it was England's 'holyest earthe'.</P> <P>A mistier tradition tells of Joseph bringing Jesus here as a young man.</P> <P>Glastonbury Abbey, never fully integrated into church orthodoxy, was a haven for medieval freethinkers. The abbey was eventually destroyed in 1539 during Henry VIII's cultural cleansing  the dissolution of the monasteries.</P> <H2><B><I>Ancient roots</I></B></H2> <P>Before Jesus' time it was the home of a Druid college and one of Britain's three perpetual choirs. Further back, 4-5,000 years ago, it was a megalithic centre along with Avebury and Stonehenge  when the banks on the sides of the Tor were shaped.</P> <P>There are strong Goddess traditions here, stretching even further back, with traces surviving to the Middle Ages. Today local women still play a strong role  the tradition lives on in a new format.</P> <H2><B><I>Modern times</I></B></H2> <P>Glastonbury was visited by philosophers and occultists of the 1600s such as John Dee, and Romantics of the late 1700s such as William Blake. They recognised a <I>special something</I> here, setting off a wave of interest that grew larger over time.</P> <P>From 1900 onward increasing numbers of visionaries, occultists, artists, musicians, healers and unique characters moved here. From the 1960s, a new generation arrived, 'alternative types', who today form around 30% of the population. To the dismay of some locals. Yet it revived the town's life and its dwindling farming and industrially-based economy.</P> <H2><B><I>People</I></B></H2> <P>Today roughly one-third of people were born and bred here, one third are middle-English incomers, and one-third are alternative types. This isn't clear-cut, and only some people at some times feel divided.</P> <P>The majority of residents are open, tolerant people who love living in a variegated, cosmopolitan place. Even so, the 10% of conservatives and 10% of radicals at each end of the spectrum assert a strong, sometimes determining influence.</P> <H2><B><I>Landscape</I></B></H2> <P>Glastonbury shares its life with two central Somerset towns, <I>Street</I>, a former shoe-making company town, now famous for Clarks Village, a shopaholics' paradise, and <I>Wells</I>, a genteel former ecclestiastical town nestling under the Mendips.</P> <P>West of Glastonbury are the Somerset Levels, a drained wetland area graced with nature reserves  a veritable bird city with herons, swans, geese, ducks and, in winter, enormous starling flocks.</P> <P>The town is overlooked by the Tor, a prominent sacred hill. It stands on a former island (actually, an isthmus), the Isle of Avalon.</P> <P>The Levels were drained in recent centuries, starting in the 1620s, prompted by disastrous tsunami in 1607. Until then Avalon was isolated, a place set apart. Nowadays you can easily drive here by road, yet Glastonbury still lives in its own very unique reality-bubble.</P> <H2><B><I>Spirit of place</I></B></H2> <P>For some, it's an ordinary, provincial small town. For others it is a global spiritual centre, held dear by 'independent spirits' and Christians alike  a multi-faith centre.</P> <P>We have protestant, catholic, independent and celtic orthodox Christians, spiritualists, pagans, Buddhists, Krishnas, shamans, Goddess-worshippers and all manner of free spirits. It gets a bit crazy sometimes, but it's healthy for the soul.</P> <P>It's colourful, busy, vibrant, an up-and-down place  sometimes warm, open and friendly, sometimes challenging. That's its fascination.</P> <P>The 'Angel of Glastonbury' reflects back to each person whatever is just underneath the surface for them. This strong 'power of place', its people, visitors, atmosphere and magic all contribute to make the place unique.</P> </BODY>  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript1.2"> </script><script type="text/javascript"> </script><noscript><img height="1" width="1" alt="" src="http://nht-2.extreme-dm.com/n2.g?login=avalon23&pid=intro&j=n&jv=n&auto=y"/> </noscript>