[To TRY EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your most interesting
article on Glastonbury (Spectator, June 26th) makes no reference to a feature of more archaic if not of greater interest still. And that is the unquestion- able remains of a great Druid centre of worship. I think it is fairly established that in Europe, if not the world over, most ancient religious sites mark the position of sites more ancient still. At Glastonbury there was such a site, accord- ing to tradition, probably antedating the existence of the "narrow seas" to which the Druids from Western Europe made pilgrimage, where they held their rites and where they sought interment. This site was indicated by a vast salmon, the fish renowned for wisdom celebrated in the " Mabinogion," and upon whose shoulders Arthur's knights rode to the city of Gloucester. The outline of this huge fish, some three thousand feet long, is still to be seen, extending from the Isle of Beckery (Little Ireland) on the banks of the Brue towards the ruins of the Abbey, and skirting Wearyall Hill. The outline was probably lined out with flints; but the richer grass can still be noted by the light of the evening sun from the station. The one spot that can be indicated as still remaining is a holy well (not the Chalice Well higher up, but another) called the Salmon's Eye, and where the "women's quarters" of the Druid priestesses were located. However much of unauthentic tradition may be involved, it is good, I think, to see in Glaston and its precincts the possibility at least of a site, sacred to such religious objects, far antedating Christianity, and thus comforting the heart with the conviction that at no time in the history of the human race has God left Himself without witness, even if that witness be of the nature which we call pagan.—I am,
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