Glastonbury

This article is about the town in Somerset. For the festival, see Glastonbury Festival. For other uses, see Glastonbury (disambiguation).

Glastonbury
Red roofs of multiple houses, with some larger white roofs at the far side. Surrounded by trees and green fields on all sides. Hills on the horizon.
A view of Glastonbury from the Tor
Glastonbury is located in Somerset
Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Location within Somerset
Population8,932 [1]
OS grid referenceST501390
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townGlastonbury
Postcode districtBA6
Dialling code01458
PoliceAvon and Somerset
FireDevon and Somerset
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Somerset
51°8′51″N 2°43′3″W / 51.14750°N 2.71750°W / 51.14750; -2.71750

Glastonbury (/ˈɡlæstənbəri/ GLAST-ən-bər-ee, UK also /ˈɡlɑːst-/ GLAHST-)[3][4] is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles (37 km) south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census.[1] Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from Street, which is now larger than Glastonbury.

Evidence from timber trackways such as the Sweet Track show that the town has been inhabited since Neolithic times. Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles (3 km) west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Centwine was the first Saxon patron of Glastonbury Abbey, which dominated the town for the next 700 years. One of the most important abbeys in England, it was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016. Many of the oldest surviving buildings in the town, including the Tribunal, George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Somerset Rural Life Museum, which is based at the site of a 14th-century abbey manor barn,[5] often referred to as a tithe barn, are associated with the abbey. The Church of St John the Baptist dates from the 15th century.

The town became a centre for commerce, which led to the construction of the market cross, Glastonbury Canal and the Glastonbury and Street railway station, the largest station on the original Somerset and Dorset Railway. The Brue Valley Living Landscape is a conservation project managed by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and nearby is the Ham Wall National Nature Reserve.

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community,[6] and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century.[7] It is notable for myths and legends often related to Glastonbury Tor, concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur. Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn. The presence of a landscape zodiac around the town has been suggested but no evidence has been discovered. The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

  1. ^ a b UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Glastonbury Parish (1170218013)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Glastonbury Town Council – The Official Glastonbury Town Council Website". Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Glastonbury". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020.
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). "Glastonbury". Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  5. ^ The Abbey Barn at Abbey Farm, Glastonbury - 1019389 | Historic England
  6. ^ Prince, Ruth; Riches, David (2000). The New Age in Glastonbury: The Construction of Religious Movements. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571817921.
  7. ^ Patrick Benham, The Avalonians, (Glastonbury: Gothic Image Publications, 1993), p 50.