A visit to Shaftesbury, Dorset

Shaftesbury, a small market town in Dorset, describes itself as a Saxon Hilltop Town. Since the town is perched on a hill high above Dorset’s Blackmore Vale, has a history dating back over 1100 years and is the site of King Alfred’s citadel and Benedictine Abbey, the description is fairly apt. Much of the present town centre dates only from around the 18^th century however.

Tower of St Peter's Church and the Town Hall

To me Shaftesbury is famous for a couple of things, the first being the association with King Alfred who founded a fortified settlement (burgh) here as a defence in the struggle with the Danish invaders in 880 AD and his establishment of Shaftesbury Abbey in 888 AD. The second is Gold Hill, the steep cobbled street made famous in the 1970s as the setting for Ridley Scott's television advertisement for Hovis bread.

St Peter's church, the oldest surviving church in Shaftesbury, was built in the 14^th century to serve pilgrims coming to Shaftesbury Abbey and stood just outside the Abbey wall. Little remains of Shaftesbury Abbey (a Benedictine nunnery) today, but it is worth noting Alfred appointed his daughter Ethelgifu as the Abbey's first abbess.

Inside St Peter's Church

In Victorian times St Peter's fell into disuse being used only for occasional services and the church  began to decay badly. During WWII the church interior was used as a grain store. It was finally declared redundant in 1971 and closed.  I find it somewhat gratifying that such a fine old church was restored by the Redundant Churches Fund and reopened for use in 1977.

As you might expect given the town's association with so famous a character of British history various references to Alfred can easily be found, like this one:

King Alfred's Kitchen

There is nothing to suggest King Alfred, or anyone else of note for that matter, had a kitchen here.

Of course you can't blame the locals for wanting to make a fast buck from the tourists!

The steep and cobbled Gold Hill

I can't help wondering whether Ridley Scott would have done things differently had he known how famous his 1973 'Boy on a Bike' advert for Hovis bread would become. I imagine the boy on the bike morphing into the Alien or the kindly baker turning out to be Maximus!

The view looking down from the top of the street has been described as “one of the most romantic sights in England.” I'm not sure I agree with that especially since to many people the hill is simply known as “Hovis Hill.”

Gold (Hovis) Hill - one of the most romantic sights in England