Glastonbury Tor
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Tower of Avalon in The Winter King
Image Credit: Film Bristol

When I watched the MGM series The Winter King, I was struck by the tower that rises above the rest of the region of Avalon, and my mind immediately flashed to stories about the use of towers in Fairy Tales.
Maid Maleen – Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Image Credit: Arthur Rackham

Maid Maleen is not a Celtic Tale, but it is part of the realm of the same type of folklore from which Celtic Mythology has evolved. Although this is fodder for another post, Tower Tales are part of mythology and folk lore–collectively speaking.

“The tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 870, ‘The Princess Confined in the Mound’. Wikipedia

The Birth of Persesus: Danae and the Tower

In another post, I have examined the fact that King Arthur–although he is part of the mythology of the Britons–is also part of Celtic Mythology.

How Do the Stories about King Arthur Relate to Celtic Mythology?

Tintagel is the legendery site of King Arthur’s Castle, and both Tintagel and Glastonbury are situated in the southwestern part of England. If you look at the following map, you will see the town of Bristol. Glastonbury is about 31 miles south of Bristol.

Both Glastonbuty and King Arthur’s Celtic Tintagel are located in England’s West Country, which can be linked to Celtic heritage, and the hills of Glastonbury look like the hilly land, where the fairies have romped and danced at least since the dawn of recorded history.

Glastonbury Tor
Image Credit: Wikipedia

“Glastonbury, a small town in Somerset, is surrounded by a grouping of hills. The tallest of these hills is known as the Tor, which happens to have an old stone tower on the very top which was once a church dedicated to the archangel Michael. Close to the Tor is Chalice Hill. Wearyall Hill is a long, narrow ridge that points towards Bristol Channel. Finally, there’s Windmill Hill which faces the cathedral city of Wells and just below are the ruins of the medieval abbey. Before the land was drained for farmland in later Christian times, the hills around Glastonbury appeared as islands from the West. Today’s river Brue (the dark blue line at the bottom of the map) was once the deepest channel in the shallow swamps and allowed boats to pass. The ancient name for the Tor was Ynys Witrin, which means ‘the Island of Glass.’ But this ‘island’ is more widely known from Celtic lore as Avalon, the Apple-place and the isle of enchantment.” Glastonbury Grove

Back to the tower in the series The Winter King. That tower is located in the Fairy-Sacred Avalon, which was the site of the Otherworld.

“In Celtic mythology, the Otherworld is the realm of the deities …. it is usually a supernatural realm of everlasting youth, beauty, health, abundance and joy.^[1]….Sometimes, they suddenly find themselves in the Otherworld with the appearance of a magic mist, supernatural beings or unusual animals.^[2][3le branch, or a ball of thread to follow as it unwinds.^[3][4]”

The Land of the Ever Young
Image Credit: Arthur Rackham Irish Fairy Tales