Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury Tor is a tor near Glastonbury in the English county of Somerset, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower, a Grade I listed building. The site is managed by the National Trust and has been designated a scheduled monument. The Tor is mentioned in Celtic mythology, particularly in myths linked to King Arthur, and has several other enduring mythological and spiritual associations. The conical hill of clay and Blue Lias rises from the Somerset Levels. It was formed when surrounding softer deposits were eroded, leaving a hard cap of sandstone exposed. The slopes of the hill are terraced, but the method by which they were formed remains unexplained. Archaeological excavations during the 20th century sought to clarify the background of the monument and church, but some aspects of their history remain unexplained. Artefacts from human visitation have been found, dating from the Iron Age to Roman eras. Several buildings were constructed on the summit during Saxon and early medieval periods; they have been interpreted as an early church and monks' hermitage. The head of a wheel cross dating from the 10th or 11th century has been recovered. The original wooden church was destroyed by an earthquake in 1275, and the stone Church of St Michael was built on the site in the 14th century. Its tower remains, although it has been restored and partially rebuilt several times. Etymology The origin of the name Glastonbury is unclear, but when the settlement was first recorded in the late 7th and early 8th centuries it was called . Of the latter name, Glestinga is obscure and may derive from an Old English word or Celtic personal name. It may derive from a person or kinship group named Glast. The second half of the name, , is Anglo-Saxon in origin and could refer to either a fortified place such as a burh or, more likely, a monastic enclosure. Tor is an English word referring to "a bare rock mass surmounted and surrounded by blocks and boulders", deriving from the Old English . The Celtic name of the Tor was , or sometimes , meaning 'Isle of Glass'. At this time the plain was flooded, the isle becoming a peninsula at low tide. Location and landscape The Tor is in the middle of the Summerland Meadows, part of the Somerset Levels, rising to an elevation of . The plain is reclaimed fen above which the Tor is clearly visible for miles around. It has been described as an island, but actually sits at the western end of a peninsula washed on three sides by the River Brue. The Tor is formed from rocks dating from the early Jurassic Period, namely varied layers of Lias Group strata. The uppermost of these, forming the Tor itself, are a succession of rocks assigned to the Bridport Sand Formation. These rocks sit upon strata forming the broader hill on which the Tor stands; the various layers of the Beacon Limestone Formation and the Dyrham Formation. The Bridport Sands