29 Facts About Glastonbury

Glastonbury is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, 23 miles south of Bristol.

Glastonbury is less than 1 mile across the River Brue from Street, which is larger than Glastonbury.

Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue and Sharpham Park approximately 2 miles west of Glastonbury, that dates back to the Bronze Age.

Glastonbury has been described as having a New Age community and possibly being where New Age beliefs originated at the turn of the twentieth century.

Joseph is said to have arrived in Glastonbury and stuck his staff into the ground, when it flowered miraculously into the Glastonbury Thorn.

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The Glastonbury Festival, held in the nearby village of Pilton, takes its name from the town.

Glastonbury Lake Village was an Iron Age village, close to the old course of the River Brue, on the Somerset Levels near Godney, some 3 miles north west of Glastonbury.

In 1191 Sharpham Park was gifted by the soon-to-be King John I to the Abbots of Glastonbury, who remained in possession of the park and house until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539.

The opening of the Glastonbury Canal produced an upturn in trade, and encouraged local building.

Glastonbury received national media coverage in 1999 when cannabis plants were found in the town's floral displays.

Glastonbury is notable for myths and legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail and King Arthur as recorded by ancient historians William of Malmesbury, Venerable Bede, Gerald of Wales and Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Glastonbury's noted that the project has actually uncovered the first definitive proof of occupation at the Glastonbury Abbey site during the fifth century—when Arthur allegedly lived.

Many other examples of the thorn grow throughout Glastonbury including those in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey, St Johns Church and Chalice Well.

Glastonbury is in the local government district of Mendip, which is part of the county of Somerset.

Glastonbury falls within the Wells constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Glastonbury is twinned with the Greek island of Patmos, and Lalibela, Ethiopia.

Glastonbury is less than 1 mile across the River Brue from the village of Street.

Glastonbury Canal ran just over 14 miles through two locks from Glastonbury to Highbridge where it entered the Bristol Channel in the early 19th century, but it became uneconomic with the arrival of the railway in the 1840s.

Glastonbury fell into Saxon hands after the Battle of Peonnum in 658.

Glastonbury is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712.

Glastonbury instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury and built new cloisters.

For such a relatively small town, Glastonbury has a remarkably diverse history of Christian places of worship, further enriched by the fact that several of these movements saw break-away factions, typically setting up new meeting places as a result of doctrinal disagreements, leaving behind them a legacy which would require a highly specialized degree of study in order to chart their respective histories and places of practice.

Glastonbury has a particular significance for members of the Baha'i Faith in that Wellesley Tudor Pole, founder of the Chalice Well Trust, was one of the earliest and most prominent adherents of this faith in the United Kingdom.

John Cowper Powys's novel A Glastonbury Romance is set in Glastonbury and is concerned with the Grail.

Glastonbury is one of the venues for the annual West Country Carnival.

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Glastonbury has been described as a New Age community where communities have grown up to include people with New Age beliefs.

Glastonbury has been the birthplace or home to many notable people.

Bill Bunbury moved on from Glastonbury to become a writer, radio broadcaster, and producer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Athletes and sports players from Glastonbury include cricketers Cyril Baily in 1880, George Burrough in 1907, and Eustace Bisgood in 1878.