But serious drainage and clearance of the wetland woodlands (alder carr), to make dry pastureland, took place only from the 1600s onwards (following a disastrous tsunami which inundated the whole Severn estuary in 1607).
Before this, the Brue flowed north from Glastonbury, joining what is now the River Axe. The monks of Glastonbury Abbey oversaw the cutting of a canal west from Glastonbury, which became the re-routed River Brue, helped drain the area. The arrival of sand dunes on the west coast of Somerset, helped by the Romans through the planting of Mediterranean dune-loving species, helped separate sea and wetland. It began as shallow sea some 7,000 years ago, gradually turning to freshwater wetlands. This is because the large flooded area west of Glastonbury has gradually been drained, by both natural means. The landscape around Glastonbury has undergone immense changes throughout human history. Glastonbury Tor | ancient landscape The Ancient Landscape around Glastonbury by Palden Jenkins
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