Glastonbury Tor, Somerset
England
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Glastonbury
Tor
[a conical hill in the Celtic language] rises out of
a plain in England's south west county of Somerset
and is thought by many to be the site of King Arthur's legendary
Avalon. Neo-hippies, on the other hand, know the area as the
site of the legendary, mud-spattered and annual Glastonbury
Music Festival.
Currently
garnished by St Michael's Tower - the last remnant of a medieval
church - the
Tor shows signs of fortified occupation over many hundreds of
years, from primitive earth defences in Neolithic times [early
Britons are believed to have called the place 'Ynys yr Afalon'],
through Roman forts to sturdy churches.
One
enduring Glastonbury mystery resides in the seven terraces circling
the Tor.
Some think that these were constructed for crop development
purposes, but this does not explain why the sunless north side
- where little would grow - sports the same rings.
Farmers say that grazing cattle can trample out terraces over
considerable time but knowledgeable rural folk point out that
in that case the rings would be less defined and more more aligned
with the contours of the hill.
An
obvious possibility is that the terraces were the remains of
defensive earthworks but the traditional Neolithic earth fort
involved three ditches fronting three banks of earth while Glastonbury
Tor appears to comprise only simple terraces with little defensive
capability. In addition, the space on top of the defended area
[the Tor] was too small to support a village. [See Maiden
Castle pictures for traditional Neolithic earthworks]
A
final theory is that the Tor markings form a labyrinth, a popular
though laborious concept in Neolithic days. And the purpose
of a labyrinth would be...?
Ley
lines: Some people [with heads firmly in the sky] believe that
Glastonbury Tor lies on spiritual/mystical Ley lines, connecting
it to other magical global locations such as Easter Island or
the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt.
Lovely feel-good theory but archeologists point out that ancient
cultures used straight paths between important points, whether
they be towns or pyramids, obviously because that would be the
shortest distance. In addition it's not too difficult to connect
the worldwide super-culture/artifact dots with lines, especially
if you're flying at hyper-velocity in an outsize saucer and
your brain was grown on Pluto.
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Glastonbury
Tor Picture UK © Andrew Martin