St Michael's Tower by Sjalen
The top of the Tor was levelled out in the 900s or 1000s to create space for the church of St Michael de Torre which was built then, on a site already used by Celtic tribes and Saxon monks throughout times. The levelling made it impossible to make many later archaeological finds from Saxon days which is a pity but it did give space for the church, although the ruined tower we see today indicates a smaller church than originally built as the first church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1275! St Michael's would probably still have stood as a church were it not for Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, which hit Glastonbury with its abbey quite hard. After the dissolution, it was used as a stone quarry like many other English church buildings and that is why you now see only the tower - a great place to shelter from the wind in!
