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Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
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moss
moss
2897 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 12, 2013, 08:48
What has always puzzled me about Glastonbury is that historically it is much more a christian settlement than a pagan settlement. The Tor has two early burials of presumed 'celtic' monks, and was the former I/A stronghold of someone who liked foreign wine. It has the ruined church tower on top, and the poor abbot Richard Whiting and two of his companions were dragged up to the top and executed during the appropiation of the abbeys by Henry...
The settlement at the bottom had become very christian with the arrival of the Benedictine abbey, and then Arthur and his queen drifted in, and Avalon was born on the many myths that surround the town.
I may be missing something of course ;)
Mustard
1043 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 12, 2013, 09:13
moss wrote:
What has always puzzled me about Glastonbury is that historically it is much more a christian settlement than a pagan settlement.

Apart form the bloody big Neolithic maze carved into the tor ;)

(I appreciate the dating is speculative, but it still seems most likely on the balance of probabilities to me).
tjj
tjj
3606 posts

Edited Jul 12, 2013, 09:50
Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 12, 2013, 09:39
Mustard wrote:
moss wrote:
What has always puzzled me about Glastonbury is that historically it is much more a christian settlement than a pagan settlement.

Apart form the bloody big Neolithic maze carved into the tor ;)

(I appreciate the dating is speculative, but it still seems most likely on the balance of probabilities to me).


Glastonbury seems surrounded in mysticism (define!) which appears rooted in early Christianity though highly probable it was a 'special' place long before that. I don't get there too often as live in north Wiltshire without a car but usually manage at least one visit a year. I always experience an inexplicable sensation associated only with that part of Somerset just before the Tor comes into view - and a feeling of elation while I'm around the area of the Tor and what is now known as the Chalice Well Garden. Can everything be explained by science - I don't think it can. Like Moss I stopped believing in 'god' many years ago (although he recently tweeted the wise words "Don't let the fact that everyone is against you stop you being paranoid") ... went through my 'airy fairy' phase of crystals healing etc. The problem with getting older is that most of our psychological crutches crumble and are seen for what they are. Glastonbury has never yet failed to energise and inspire me.
moss
moss
2897 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 12, 2013, 09:50
Mustard wrote:
moss wrote:
What has always puzzled me about Glastonbury is that historically it is much more a christian settlement than a pagan settlement.

Apart form the bloody big Neolithic maze carved into the tor ;)

(I appreciate the dating is speculative, but it still seems most likely on the balance of probabilities to me).


Well I will grant it is an option given it's appearance in a very flat area, a conspicuous beacon to Neolithic settlers, and could well be true given the 'structuring' of great earthworks in the landscape of both Avebury and Stonehenge, but two other options on the table, it is either natural or medieval lynchets which you can find all over Somerset.

Still if the maze theory is true, why are people climbing a 'sacred' tor then? ;)

ref; Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts fascinating book on the Myth and Archaeology of Glastonbury
Mustard
1043 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 12, 2013, 11:06
moss wrote:
Mustard wrote:
moss wrote:
What has always puzzled me about Glastonbury is that historically it is much more a christian settlement than a pagan settlement.

Apart form the bloody big Neolithic maze carved into the tor ;)

(I appreciate the dating is speculative, but it still seems most likely on the balance of probabilities to me).


Well I will grant it is an option given it's appearance in a very flat area, a conspicuous beacon to Neolithic settlers, and could well be true given the 'structuring' of great earthworks in the landscape of both Avebury and Stonehenge, but two other options on the table, it is either natural or medieval lynchets which you can find all over Somerset.

Still if the maze theory is true, why are people climbing a 'sacred' tor then? ;)

ref; Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts fascinating book on the Myth and Archaeology of Glastonbury


The lynchets theory doesn't stand up to examination. There was no shortage of land in medieval Glastonbury, and no need to build lynchets around 360 degress of a very exposed big hill. It's about as likely as t the Glastonbury zodiac. As for natural formation.... it can't be dismissed as impossible, but it's certainly incredibly unlikely.

The Neolithic maze (or other prehistoric landscaping) theory isn't proven, but looking at the options rationally it is by far the most likely explanation.
woosh
35 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 20, 2013, 14:57
All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling..
woosh
35 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 20, 2013, 15:35
The early celts left no written texts, are we going to forever hold this against such a wonderful and colourful culture ! after 61ad the druids lived on in ireland and it shows in their ancestors today.. the irish people . Look around you, feel it in the air at these sites which have passed through so many eras in time way, way beyond the iron age. there is some archeological evidence but we dont need it ! .. the importance surely for the celtic tribal leaders speaks for itself at these special places ? once again Not new age , very very old age !.
woosh
35 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 20, 2013, 15:38
See what else you cant find with Google. it is ok, but its not exactly the library of alexandria !
tiompan
tiompan
5758 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 20, 2013, 17:59
woosh wrote:
See what else you cant find with Google. it is ok, but its not exactly the library of alexandria !


Is the the beardie blokes web site and all it's metaphysics woo the library of Andrea ?
Mustard
1043 posts

Re: Glastonbury resident antiquarians and festival,.
Jul 21, 2013, 11:40
woosh wrote:
The early celts left no written texts, are we going to forever hold this against such a wonderful and colourful culture ! after 61ad the druids lived on in ireland and it shows in their ancestors today.. the irish people . Look around you, feel it in the air at these sites which have passed through so many eras in time way, way beyond the iron age. there is some archeological evidence but we dont need it ! .. the importance surely for the celtic tribal leaders speaks for itself at these special places ? once again Not new age , very very old age !.

You can't take your personal feelings about places and extrapolate from that beliefs that you expect people to accept as historic fact. Again, we know next to nothing about the druids, so any claims about what they did or didn't believe are nothing more than speculation. If you want to seriously claim that we don't need archaeological evidence to understand history, then it's pretty hard to take you seriously.

How, specifically, does the importance of Glastonbury to "Celtic tribal leaders" speak for itself? And how, specifically, do you arrive at the conclusion that the druids (about whom, remember, we know next to nothing) held beliefs that encompassed "chakras"?
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