Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury is a
town in North
Dorset,
England, situated on the
A30 road near the
Wiltshire border 20
miles west of
Salisbury. The town is built 750
feet (over 200
metres) above sea level on the side of a
chalk and
greensand hill, which is part of
Cranborne Chase, the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset. It is one of the oldest and highest towns in
Britain.
In
2001, the town had a
population of 6,665 with 3,112 dwellings, only a small increase from
1991. There are currently 4 first schools, a middle school and an upper school, but this is soon to change to 5 primary schools and an enlarged secondary school. Major employers include
Dorset Chilled Foods,
Stalbridge Linen (a commercial laundry),
HMP Guy's Marsh,
Wessex Electrical and the
Royal Mail.
Many of the older buildings in the town are of the local greensand, while others built from the grey
Chilmark limestone, much of which was salvaged from the demolished Shaftesbury Abbey, and have
thatched roofs.
Tourism is one of the main industries in the town.
The town looks over the
Blackmore Vale, part of the river
Stour basin. From different viewpoints, it is possible to see at least as far as
Glastonbury Tor to the north-west, and the
Isle of Purbeck to the south.
The town is famous for
Gold Hill, a steep cobbled street featured on the cover of countless books about Dorset and rural England. The town is also famous for its ruined Abbey and nearby
Wardour Castle.
A
market is held in the town on Thursdays. The Blackmore Vale is
Thomas Hardy's
Vale of the Little Dairies, and until
2004 Shaftesbury was the location of one of the last remaining
livestock markets in Britain. The site has since been redeveloped as a supermarket.
The town features in
Thomas Hardy's
Wessex as
Shaston, of particular significance in
Jude the Obscure.
Although Shaftesbury's recorded history dates from
Anglo-Saxon times, it may have been the
Celtic Caer Palladur. Its first written record as a town is in the
Burgal Hidage.
Alfred the Great founded a
Burgh (fortified settlement) here in
880 as a defence in the struggle with the Danish invaders. Alfred and his daughter
Ethelgiva founded Shaftesbury Abbey in
888, which was a spur to the growing importance of the town.
Athelstan founded three royal mints, which struck pennies bearing the town's name, and the abbey became the wealthiest
Benedictine nunnery in England. On February 20th
981 the relics of St
Edward the Martyr were translated from Wareham and received with great ceremony, thereafter turning Shaftesbury into a major site of pilgrimage for miracles of healing. In
1240 Cardinal Otto, legate to the
Apostolic See of
Pope Gregory IX visited the abbey and confirmed a charter of
1191, the first entered in the
Glastonbury chartulary.
King Canute died here in
1035. In the
Domesday Book, the town was known as
Scaepterbyrg; its ownership was equally shared between King and Abbey. The Abbey was in the
Middle Ages the central focus of the town. The shrine of
St Edward, who is interred here, attracted
pilgrims from afar.
In
1260, a charter to hold a
market was granted. In
1392,
Richard II confirmed a grant of two markets on different days.
By
1340, the
mayor had become a recognised figure, sworn in by the Steward of the Abbess.
By the time of the Reformation the Abbey had become exceedingly wealthy. It was said at the time of the
Dissolution of the Monasteries that "if the Abbess of Shaftesbury and the Abbot of
Glastonbury Abbey had been able to wed, their son would have been richer than the King of England" such were the lands that had been bequethed.
In
1539, the last Abbess of Shaftesbury,
Elizabeth Zouche, signed a deed of surrender, the abbey was demolished, and its lands sold, leading to a temporary decline in the town. Sir
Thomas Arundel of Wardour purchased the abbey and much of the town in
1540, but when he was later
exiled for
treason his lands were forfeit, and the lands passed to Pembroke then
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and finally to the Grosvenors.
Shaftesbury was a parliamentary
constituency returning two members from
1296 to the
Reform Act of 1832, when it was reduced to one, and in
1884 the separate constituency was abolished.
The town was broadly Parliamentarian in the
Civil War, but was in
Royalist hands.
Wardour Castle fell to Parliamentary forces in
1643; Parliamentary forces surrounded the town in August
1645, when it was a centre of local
Clubmen activity. The clubmen were arrested and sent to trial in
Sherborne. Shaftesbury took no part in the
Monmouth Rebellion of
1685.
The town hall was built in
1827 by Earl Grosvenor after the Guildhall was pulled down to widen the high street.
The major employers in the 18th and 19th centuries were buttonmaking and weaving. The former became a victim of mechanisation, and this caused unemployment and emigration.
The five turnpikes which met at Shaftesbury ensured that the town had a good coaching trade. The railways, however, bypassed Shaftesbury, and this infuenced the subsequent pattern of its growth.
In
1919, Lord
Stalbridge sold a large portion of the town, which was purchased by a syndicate and
auctioned piece by piece over three days.
Most of the
Saxon and
Medieval buildings have now been ruined, with most of the town dating from the
18th century to present.
Thomas Hardy wrote:
"Vague imaginings of its castle, its three mints, its magnificent apsidal Abbey, the chief glory of south Wessex, its twelve churches, its shrines, chantries, hospitals ... all now ruthlessley swept away—throw the visitor, even against his will, into a pensive melancholy."In 1973,
Gold Hill was used as the location for the famous "Boy on a bike" advertisement, directed by
Ridley Scott for Hovis bread.
Actor
Robert Newton,best known for his portrayal of
Long John Silver,was born in Shaftesbury.
Comedian
Bill Hicks used the name of the town in a popular stand-up bit about
hooligans. He satirized the tune of "Behind Blue Eyes" by
The Who and combined it with a fake news report about hooligan violence. The lyrics are as follows: "No one knows what its like/to be a dustbin/in Shaftesbury/with hooligans."
*
Shaftesbury Town Website
* Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1979.
Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.
* The 1985 AA illustrated guide to the country towns and villages of Britain.
