#300 – Isle of Avalon

In the distance is The Glastonbury Tor and surrounding hillsides, which history has given many names: Insula Pomorum, Ynys Afallach, or the Isle of Apples, as well as the Isle of Glass, because 7,000 years ago there was a sea, which gradually turned to freshwater wetlands, tidal salt marsh and then freshwater peat bogs. Now the Glastonbury Tor is surrounded by a fenland of grasses, apple orchards, marsh reeds, sedge and rushes rising from the mist like a mirage.

The walk from the well to the foot of the Tor hill is less than 15 minutes, past the White Spring to the field gate and St. Michael’s Tower, which stands alone upon the hilltop. Legend says the Tor was a hollow place where fairies lived. This glorious landscape was once speculated to be the famed Isle of Avalon, and Glastonbury Abbey, linked to the legend of King Arthur, and was once believed to be his final burial place.

At the forefront of the painting is the Glastonbury Thorn tree, as it once grew on Wearyall Hill. This tree had a long and sacred history, dating back to the ancient stories of Joseph of Arimathea and the legends surrounding the Abbey and its holy well. The original thorn tree was said to bloom on both Easter and Christmas Day. However, many say the tree predates Christian times. The mists depicted between the town and the Tor reflect the story of a place of sacred crossing to the mythic Isle of Avalon, where the great King Arthur was said to have been taken after his final battle.

Queen Elizabeth II once said of this place It was so ancient that “only legend can record its origin.”

• Original completed November 2025
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