Aspects of Avalon

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 by the Dane

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

 They make a good effort with these crocuses, and by the Lady Chapel, snowdrops are the flowers of Imbolc. A song thrush was making a fine effort, with the sharp calls of the jackdaws as a counterpoint.  The low winter light brings out the figure of St Brigit in the worn carvings over the entrance to the Lady Chapel. Carving of St Bridget milking a cow The doorway with the carvings over the entrance to the Lady Chapel Glastonbury Abbey website

How accurate is the position St Bride’s Well Stone? The historic site of Bride’s Hill holds the site and footings of the early Brigid Chapel and burial site, but the FoBM land holds a site featured in more recent Glastonbury mythology. This was where the Blue Bowl was hidden in 1898, sometimes said to be Bride’s Well. The tale of the Blue Bowl links Bride’s Hill, Chalice Well, and some luminaries of the early-twentieth century revival of mystical Glastonbury. Patrick Benham, erstwhile editor of the 1970s alternative magazine Torc called this group The Avalonians, and the story of the Blue Bowl is told well in his book 1 of the same name. The whereabouts of this feature is of interest to some modern pilgrims, and there’s some doubt about its location due to 20th century hydrological work. I have set out to examine this, using Dr John Goodchild’s sketch map, historical mapping and post-war aerial photography. We now have the privilege of some quite large scale historical mapping ava