Glastonbury-on-Sea

Blog post February 10 2016

Last Saturday (February 7th) it rained all day non-stop. The result was more water on the ground around Glastonbury than we had two years ago when rainfall reached record proportions. The view looking back from beside the river created this curious impression of a seaside town.

This picture was taken at a place known as Plungen, on the River Brue just outside Glastonbury. In the thirteenth century the river here was straightened and embanked, and built up above the level of the surrounding land, so as to provide power for a new mill at Beckery. Every so often the flood bank is over-topped, and the result can be quite dramatic to watch.

Two days later Storm Imogen arrived, and it seemed like the flooding could become serious. As it turned out, although the weather in Wales particularly was ferocious, Glastonbury and the Levels escaped the worst if it – in fact the waters were receding even whilst the storm was blowing. By the middle of the week, though there’s still plenty of water about, the weather appears to have calmed right down.