Pilton, Somerset - Definition and Overview

Pilton is a village in Somerset, England, situated on the A361 road in the Mendip district, three miles south west of Shepton Mallet and six miles east of Glastonbury. The village has a population of 1030 (2002 estimate).

Pilton is now almost 20 miles from the sea but sits on the edge of the Somerset Levels, an area which has now been drained but was once a shallow tidal lake. In Saxon times Pilton, then known as Pooltown, was a harbour and according to legend it is where Joseph of Arimathea landed in Britain in the 1st century. The present Norman and Medieval village church may stand on the site of an earlier wattle and daub church built by the early missionaries.

The village has a Manor house and a tithe barn which belonged to Glastonbury Abbey.

Pilton is famous as the location of the Glastonbury Festival.

References

• Census data (http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/statistics/contents/population/estimates/2002mye/)
• The 1985 AA illustrated guide to the country towns and villages of Britain.