[Illustration: GLASTONBURY TOR]

A climb should be taken to the top of the _Tor_--500 ft. above
sea-level. The original chapel of St Michael was destroyed by a
landslide in 1271. The Perp. tower subsequently erected still remains,
though deprived of its upper storey. Note _bas-reliefs_ over doorway,
and tablet with figured eagle below parapet. A spring, called the
"Blood Spring," near the Tor is said to mark the spot where St Joseph
buried the Holy Grail. _Wirrall_, or _Weary All Hill_, near the
station, may also be scaled with advantage, if only for its traditional
associations. It was here that St Joseph landed, and his staff, taking
root, developed into the miraculous thorn tree. The tree, however, no
longer exists, for it was hewn in pieces by a Puritan soldier, who is
said to have cut off his leg in the process as a penalty for his
profanity. An offshoot of the parent thorn grows in the Abbey grounds.

_Goathurst_ is a village lying at the foot of the S.E. spur of the
Quantocks, 4-1/2 m. S.W. from Bridgwater. It has an old church, with a
heavy battlemented tower. The N. chapel contains a large monument with
the effigies of Sir Nicholas Halswell (d. 1633) and his wife,
surrounded by the kneeling figures of their nine children. The S.
chapel belongs to the Kemeys-Tyntes, and is decorated with numerous
coats-of-arms round the cornice. Note the piscina in the chancel. Near
the church is _Halswell House_ (C.T.H. Kemeys-Tynte), originally built
in the Tudor period, containing some fine carving by Grinling Gibbons,
and pictures by Salvator Rosa, Van Dyck, Ostade, Ruysdael, Reynolds,
and others.

_Godney_ (1-1/2 m. N.E. of Meare, 2 m. N. of Glastonbury) is famous for
the remains of a lake village which have been discovered here. The