Today, Glastonbury is better known for its eponymous music festival. Joseph of Arimathea is said to have visited Glastonbury with the Holy Grail and thrust his staff into Wearyall Hill, which then grew and miraculously flowered into the Glastonbury Thorn tree. Indeed, legend has always surrounded Glastonbury. Glastonbury is also famous for its abbey. The seventh-century abbey was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but by the fourteenth century, the new abbey was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England. It was the site of Edmund Ironside's coronation as King of England in 1016 and since the twelfth century has been associated with the legend of King Arthur. Steeped in Christian and Pagan legends, the town is overshadowed by Glastonbury Tor, a dominant feature of the local landscape, topped by the roofless St Michael's Tower. Situated on the low-lying Somerset Levels, Glastonbury is perhaps the Mendip district's most famous town.
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