Wells, Glastonbury and Stonehenge

Today started off a bit slower, we did have a tour booked however we didn't depart until 1pm and as we had seen most of the things on our bucket list we really had time to wander. We visited the post office to ship some souvenirs home. And then wandered to a yarn shop to have a look, across the road from the yarn shop was a glass blowing workshop, we wandered in to have a look and was fortunate that they were about to start a demonstration on glass blowing and we had the opportunity to "blow" our own glass bauble.

This is myn, at this point it was still hot and the colours aren't true, shortly after this photo the glass blowers added a glass loop to the top.  It was really interesting to watch the demonstration and amazing to have something this special to add to our Christmas tree.

Our tour took us to several places of interest , the first was the town of 

Wells

Like Bath was originally settled due to the existence of water , in this case the Wells / spring.

We really only had time to look at the Cathedral.

 

They believe that there has been religious worship occurring in this area since the Stone Age,    however the current building was commenced in 1175.   

This spectacular church was awe inspiring, I m not sure how many times I uttered wow or how many photos I took , but it was very impressive.  This is the first British church to be built entirely in the Gothic style.

After leaving the Cathedral we headed to 

Glastonbury Tor

Glastonbury Tor is a hill near the town of Glastonbury which is currently topped by the tower of what was St Michaels church.  We climbed this hill and the 360 degrees were spectacular.

  

There is evidence that this hill was occupied during the Neolithic period, during the Saxon period there were at least four religious dwellings on this site, in modern history there has been two St Michael churches on this site, the first lost during an earthquake the last was destroyed when the dissolution of monasteries law was passed.  Today it is also the site of mythology and legend. Some believe it is the Isle of Avalon, from King Arthur legends others believe it is the home of the king of the fairies.  

After leaving the tour we had a quick tour of the town of Glastonbury. Grabbed some food to eat and then headed into 

Glastonbury Abbey.

 

The first church of Glastonbury was established by the first Saxon's converted to Christianity.  Over the years it had many strong supporters and grew to be a important monastic and spiritual centre.  In 1086 it was documented as being the richest Abbey in England. However in 1184 a fire tore through the Abbey destroying it and all of its ancient treasures.

  

In 1191 the monks were doing excavations and discovered a lead coffin, with two bodies inside. It was believed that the coffin belonged to King Arthur and Gweneviere. By the 14th century Glastonbury was the second richest monastery in the country ( 2nd to Westminster). Unfortunately when the reformation occurred the Abbot refused to hand over the keys to the Abbey, this infuriated Henry the 8th and he used Glastonbury as an example, stripping it of all its wealth, it roof and destroying its windows. Afterwards sadly the building was used as a stone quarry with various owners selling the stone of the once large and beautiful church.  It was lovely to see what remained of this building, we had an excellent tour guide , he belonged to the Abbey and was dressed as a monk. He was very knowledgeable, showing us the original Dimensions and images of what th believe it looked like.

After this we headed to our final Destination 

Stonehenge

And it's surrounding area.

Our guide took us to various sites explaining there significance

As we had after hours and inside the circle access he headed, for the stones as early as possible with the hope we may just get some time there on our own.

  

And we did, Gadget and I had a solid 10 mins inside the stone circle by ourselves, and to me it just felt magical.  Of course there were rules no touching the stones, no standing or climbing on, but just to be there felt really special.  I have to say the hardest rule was no touching, because from the moment I walked into the circle all I wanted to do was touch them, I resisted of course, but when I spoke with our guide about it, he agreed, he said he feels exactly the same.  We were really lucky not only was our guide a tour guide for Stonehenge, but also he has worked on various archeological digs in an around the circle so he was very knowledgeable.

It was so amazing that all those years ago the creators of the circle fashioned these stones to create mortice holes and protruding tenons, also to ensure the stones slotted together on the top they fashioned the stones into a tongue and groove joint, just amazing considering they used rocks to shape the rocks.

  

I m not going to get into any of the history of Stonehenge, it would take way too much time.  

Although we don't really know what this place was used for and probably never will, 

To me it felt like a very special place and my visit here was probably one of the highlights of this trip so far and something I will never forget.

Ciao

Googy Girl

We are now in London, as some of you will know , and because we are super busy going to plays ect...  it is getting a little harder to keep up with the blog. I will catch up when I have time, but posts may be not as regular.