In the 1960s excavations suggested that a sixth-century fortress or at least a stronghold stood on the site of the Tor, which for some supports another legend connected with the Tor, that it was the location of the stronghold belonging to 'Melwas', who is credited in one of the many Arthurian legends as the man who abducted 'Guinevere'. Such churches were often dedicated to Michael in his role as spiritual guardian. It was a common practice to build churches on pagan worship sites both to cement the ascendancy of the new faith and to give the people a Christian gathering place at a familiar spot. The chapel is in itself evidence of the site's pre-Christian roots. The tower on the Tor is all that remains of a fourteenth-century chapel dedicated to Saint Michael, a replacement for an earlier church destroyed by an earthquake in 1275. Later legend has it that the Tor is the Island of Avalon, burial site of King Arthur. The Celts called it Ynys Witrin, or the Isle of Glass, and believed it was a gateway to the underworld. Viewed close up, its slopes are subtly terraced, and some scholars speculate that it forms a remnant of a Neolithic labyrinth.

Neolithic people in the region built platform villages linked by wooden causeways, arguably the first man-made roads.Īt some point, no one knows exactly when, the Tor became a sacred site.

In ancient times, the Somerset levels were a shallow, marshy sea.

Glastonbury tor coordinates