Glastonbury, Live Webcam View

More info: Glastonbury is a town located in the county of Somerset in south west England. Glastonbury is situated on the slopes of a group of hills which rise up from the valley of the river Brue up to Glastonbury Tor (hill), which is 518 feet (158 metres) above sea level making a superb natural viewpoint.

Glastonbury is thought to have been a site for pre-Christian worship as well as the reputed burial place of King Arthur. The evocative landscape of Glastonbury has attracted myths and legends from the earliest of times. Glastonbury is less than 1 mile (2 km) across the River Brue from the village of Street. At the time of King Arthur the Brue formed a lake just south of the hilly ground on which Glastonbury stands. This lake is one of the locations suggested by Arthurian legend as the home of the Lady of the Lake.

The Chalice Well, also known as the Red Spring, is a well situated near the summit of Chalice Hill, a small hill next to Glastonbury Tor. Christian mythology suggests that Chalice Well marks the site where Joseph of Arimathea placed the chalice that had caught the drops of Christ's blood at the Crucifixion, linking the Well to the wealth of speculation surrounding the existence of the Holy Grail.

Glastonbury is said to lie on a ‘ley line’ which is said by believers to link or align ancient monuments, notable landscape features and settlements across the world on a series of invisible energy pathways. These lines have been likened to the Chinese feng shui concept.

Glastonbury is well known around the world, for its festivals. The first Glastonbury Festivals, held in summer from 1914 to 1926, established the town as a centre for arts. The festivals were founded by English socialist composer Rutland Boughton and his librettist Lawrence Buckley.

The more recent Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, founded in 1970, is now the largest open-air music and performing arts festival in the world. Although it is named after Glastonbury, it is actually held at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle, 6 miles (9.7 km) east of the town of Glastonbury.