Glastonbury Tor

One of the oldest strands of lore casts the Tor as a hollow hill whose inside opens into Annwn, the Celtic Otherworld. Here dwells Gwyn ap Nudd, lord of the dead and king of the fairies, guarding the Cauldron of Rebirth; in some tales, a cave in the Tor leads straight into his hall, and the hill becomes a threshold between this world and the land of spirits.

The visible terraces spiralling around the Tor have inspired the idea that they once formed a three‑dimensional labyrinth, a seven‑circuit path like a great Caerdroia carved into the hillside. In this reading pilgrims would walk the full spiral to the summit as a ritual journey — either towards St Michael’s church at the top, or symbolically towards the gates of Annwn, turning the climb into a physical meditation through the “maze” of the soul.

Before the Levels were drained, Glastonbury Tor rose from wetlands so that, in flood or mist, it appeared as an island — one reason it became closely identified with Avalon. Medieval and later Arthurian traditions place Arthur’s healing or burial on this “Isle of Glass,” fusing Celtic Otherworld lore with Christian Grail quests and making the Tor a key landmark in the Arthur–Avalon mythos.

The roofless tower on the summit is the last fragment of a medieval church of St Michael, rebuilt after an earlier church was destroyed in the earthquake of 1275. In 1539 the Tor became an execution ground when Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glastonbury, and two monks were dragged up the hill and hanged, drawn and quartered there during the Dissolution — a grim Christian counterpoint to its older sacred associations