MORE than 250 years ago, a 71-year-old hermit by the name of John Jackson set out through the mud and mire of an 18th-century winter on a pilgrimage from Yorkshire to Somerset to see the Glastonbury Thorn bloom at Christmas time.

The miraculous thorn had suddenly seemed like an anchor in a sea of uncertainty because, in 1753, the British calendar was altered to bring it into line with Europe, and 11 days were dropped from the month of September, worrying many people.

Rumours that thousands would flock to Glastonbury to see if the thorn still blossomed at the usual time reached Jackson in his hut on the main road between Leeds and Dewsbury, and he decided on his 200-mile walk – an epic journey which is to be re-enacted this December by Frome author and archaeologist Adam Stout.

As he follows in Jackson's footsteps, arriving in Glastonbury by Christmas Day, Adam will raise money for the recently opened Pilgrim Reception Centre at Glastonbury, a not-for-profit venture catering for the many people whose spiritual paths have brought them to the town.

"There is something I find really compelling about Jackson and his pilgrimage," Adam told me. "I felt I really wanted to make the same journey myself, and to ponder upon the massive changes that have taken place since his time.

"His trek is clear evidence that Glastonbury was even then seen as a rather unusual place, where the normal rules of the world were apparently suspended, already becoming a magnet for miracle-seekers and people who were unimpressed by the way that the world was changing."

A chap-book – a form of popular literature hawked by pedlars and "chapmen" mostly from the 16th to 18th centuries – called The Holy Disciple, and giving an account of the Joseph of Arimathea legend designed to confirm that the thorn still flowered on Old Christmas Day, inspired Jackson.

Adam, author of The Thorn and the Waters: Miraculous Glastonbury in the 18th Century, which puts Jackson's journey into context, said the elderly eccentric, a "fascinating and endearing individual", had been an all-rounder: schoolmaster, stonecutter, land-measurer, clock-mender and maker, and philanthropist. He was a wild-looking fellow, renowned for having "a head through the hair of which, it was thought, a comb did not as often pass as once a year".

Adam said: "He was on a bizarre and zany quest, looking for proofs of a legend to counter current unease and chaos. He made his journey at the start of the Industrial Revolution and change was already well under way – he walked through bustling, growing, spreading cities like Sheffield and Birmingham, and he wasn't very impressed.

"I'll be walking with all sorts of different folk, but particularly people thinking about the shape of the future; with local environmentalists, planners and historians, with people interested in pilgrimage and matters 'spiritual' and, hopefully, with many random people, too."

Adam, a research fellow in archaeology at the University of Wales, Lampeter, who specialises in "unusual history", plans to write a book about the walk, and says offers of sponsorship would be very welcome, however small.

You can contact Adam at adam.stout@virgin.net, or Morgana West at the Pilgrim Reception Centre, 1 Church Lane, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 9JQ, telephone 01458 835572, or email prcadmin@glastonbury-pilgrim.co.uk