Aspects of Avalon

  Nyland hill viewed from Draycott Sleights Most of the time I've seen Nyland Hill from the Levels rather than this eagle's eye view, I like this string of low hills in the Levels just before the rise of the Mendips proper - Worminster, Launcherley, Arthur's Seat and this lovely conical half-wooded hill, Nyland Hill (link: streetmap )  The obvious route as you pass through the gate from the south I parked south of the hill and took the obvious route, which was steep and tough going as it neared the top, not one to take when it's been raining a lot. I didn't really fancy taking that way back ;) At the top I was graced with great views over the Levels and some of those other low hills Looking back over the Levels at some of the low hills Glastonbury Tor from the trig point Reaching the trig point was the chance to have a well-deserved swig of coffee from the flask, no point in dragging the extra weight up the hill if I don't use it!  Looking towards Cheddar from t...

  Bride's Well isn't where the stone is, and it was never a particularly significant well in recent times, after the monks of Glastonbury Abbey diverted the River Brue. The Ordnance Survey never listed it. However, from the topology of the land and where the stone originally stood you can see a faint depression. After a fairly wet start to 2023 I looked where the stone used to be, and water does collect there. The erstwhile location of Bride's Well, April 2023 This was the most likely original position of the commemorative stone before it got co-opted by Wellesley Tudor Pole to indicate the place where the Blue Bowl was found in the early years of the 20th century. It was moved a little bit again when the Brue embankments were raised mid-20th century. in the distance you can see the slight raise in the ground that John Goodchild fancifully termed the salmon at Beckery, it extended further than he showed it and may have been the best fording point for pilgrims coming to Be...

Like most of Paul Weston’s books, this is a good yarn. I bought my copy in Labyrinth Books across the road from St John’s Church, shortly after it came out. The photo of the Tor seen from Tesco intrigued me, I had a really bad black cloud of gloom experience 1 when staying at the Travelodge near there. I wouldn’t go as far as saying the region of the Wirral Park roundabout is cursed, but it’s not somewhere I want to dwell for any length of time. Glastonbury Psychogeography by Paul Weston Paul’s description of the happenings there had an even darker feel - the arson attack ejecting Mickey D’s from the Glastonbury temenos, the 1998 Legionnaire’s disease outbreak from IMCO’s cooling tower afflicting customers at B&Q, all confirmed the feeling that this is a hellmouth that needs Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The diabolical miasma doesn’t extend far,  I am fine in Aldi, and the Old Tannery is one of my favourite restaurants in the area. Maybe the good vibes from Saint Bride's anc...

 The first of February is the festival of Imbolc, the start of Spring and associated with St Brigid from Ireland, and the Goddess Bride is some pagan traditions. It seems like the earth is coming back to life, snowdrops appear, and some birds like the song thrush have started singing. The group gathers at the White Well in Wellhouse Lane Since its formation in November 1995 the Friends of Bride's Mound have had an annual pilgrimage on Imbolc from the White Well/Chalice Well to Bride's Mound. The tradition is even older, Serena told us a group have been making making the pilgrimage since the 1980s, for 37 years, and she has led the pilgrimage for most of that time. Gathering at the Market Cross  The pilgrimage is for two and a half miles, along Chilkwell Street and the back of the Abbey, down Silver Street with a pause at the Market Cross where a few people joined, down Benedict Street and on via Porchestall Drove to Cradle Bridge.  on the embankment of the Brue, near Cra...

On a low mound in the Somerset Levels near Athelney there is a monument to King Alfred. In January 878 the Viking king Guthrum launched a surprise attack on Alfred at Chippenham, and King Alfred was forced to fall back, to Athelney in the Somerset Levels. King Alfred took refuge at an old Iron age hillfort, and here he planned his reprisal. In May of the same year he launched the fierce battle of Edington, where Alfred vanquished Guthrum's Viking army, the remnants withdrew to Chippenham and surrendered.  King Alfred's monument     Guthrum converted to Christianity an Alfred became king of Wessex, which is the start of what we now know as England. In 888 Alfred built a monastery on this site, which was destroyed in the Dissolution of the monasteries, so now this monument is all that can be seen. It was built in 1801 by John Slade. Bust of King Alfred on the monument The inscription reads  “King Alfred the Great in the year of Our Lord 879 having been defeated ...

These veterans are Gog and Magog, and they have had a troubled history in recent years, each one has been set alight by berks leaving tea-lights. The combination of fire and living wood is not a happy one : There is someone out there, possibly still in the Avalon landscape, sitting with the knowledge that, in their misguided understanding of ‘honouring the trees’, they instead have burnt the bugger down. Magog is in the foreground, the still living tree, with Gog behind I didn't get to see Gog and Magog properly on this visit, because the trees are surrounded by a whacking great fence pretty much up to adult eye height. The notice posted on it says that  Spring is just around the corner and you will see everything bounce back and blossom. The fence will blend naturally into the landscape Err, no, it bloody well won't. I can see why the landowner wants to fence this off to stop twits putting tealights into the trees and climbing the branches, but no way is that fence goi...