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Shaftesbury, Dorset

Gold Hill

Shaftesbury was probably founded in the later ninth century. It is one of four towns in Dorset mentioned in a document known as the Burghal Hidage. This was a record of fortified towns and settlements compiled during the reign of Alfred the Great. Alfred was engaged in a struggle with the Vikings, and his Burghal Hidage details plans made to resist Viking attacks. Alfred also set up a nunnery in Shaftesbury, and it is thought that Alfred's daughter Aethelgifu was the first abbess. A section of wall from the old Abbey survives in Gold Hill. On the Abbey site there are remains of Norman buildings, which replaced those built by Alfred. For more details see Shaftesbury Abbey.

Alfred's abbey was established in 888, using a wonderful location overlooking Blackmore Vale. The town of Shaftesbury then began to grow up around it.

 

 

 

 

Memorial to Edward the Martyr at Shaftesbury Abbey

Following Alfred's involvement with Shaftesbury, the town continued its royal connection. Alfred's grandson Athelstan had coinage made here, and the small Shaftesbury Museum on Gold Hill has a collection of coins dating back to Alfred's reign.

Half a century later Shaftsbury came to prominence in events surrounding the death of King Edward the Martyr in 978. Edward was murdered by his brother Ethelred, who in a propaganda exercise encouraged the veneration of Edward's remains. Edward was buried at Shaftesbury Abbey, where his grave became a major shrine. In 1931 a lead casket containing the bones of a young man dated to the period of Edward the Martyr was discovered during excavations of the abbey. Controversially the remains were bought by a Russian Orthodox brotherhood near Woking, where they now remain. Nevertheless a memorial alter dedicated to Edward has been built at Shaftesbury Abbey.

Later in history Shaftesbury remained an important centre, with Edward the Martyr's shrine continuing to attract many pilgrims. King Canute is supposed to have loved Shaftesbury. Elizabeth, wife of Robert the Bruce was detained at Shaftesbury Abbey between 1313 and 1314. In 1501 Catherine of Aragon stayed at the abbey on her way to London to marry Prince Arthur, elder brother of the future Henry VIII. Later, following Arthur's early death, Catherine was to be married to Henry VIII. It was eventually to be through Henry's efforts to divorce Catherine that Shaftesbury Abbey was destroyed. The pope would not allow a divorce, so Henry took England away from papal authority, and changed England's religion to Protestantism. Shaftesbury Abbey was demolished as part of this process.

Shaftesbury remained a prominent town up until the Industrial Revolution, when by-passed by the railway, it became rather isolated. Ironically this saved the town from development and preserved its famed beauty. Shaftesbury is now an idealised symbol of pre industrial England. Villages became icons of a lost innocence in the nineteenth century, and Shaftesbury continues to serve this purpose. In the early 1970s a famous nostalgic advert for Hovis bread was filmed by Ridley Scott on Gold Hill. A delivery boy struggled up the hill to "old ma Peggarty's place" to deliver bread. He then careered back down for a cup of tea and Hovis sandwiches with the kind hearted baker! This was a hugely popular advert, which suggested that even if we had lost old communities we still had their bread. Whether or not villages and towns like Shaftesbury do represent lost communities is another question, discussed on our history of villages but Shaftesbury is certainly an image of how England's past is often viewed.

Shaftesbury Museum

Directions: Shaftesbury is off the A30 in Dorset. Click here for an interactive map centred on Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury Museum is at the top of Gold Hill.

Visiting Details For Shaftesbury Museum

Opening Times: Open daily except Wednesdays, Easter to 31st of October, 10.30am - 4.30 pm.

Address: Gold Hill Museum, Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset.

Access: Steep slopes near entrance. Ground floor has tight doorways. Steep steps to second floor.

Contact: 01747 852157