Shaftesbury 208480 221419720 2008-06-24T12:31:14Z Neelix 1169106 Added alternate name for the town in Thomas Hardy's Wessex {{dablink|For other uses, see [[Shaftesbury (disambiguation)]]}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name= Shaftesbury | local_name= | shire_district= [[North Dorset]] | shire_county= [[Dorset]] | country= England | region= South West England | static_image= [[Image:Gold Hill, Shaftsbury, Dorset, England.JPG|240px]] | static_image_caption= <small>[[Gold Hill, Shaftesbury |Gold Hill]]</small> | population= 6,665 <ref>[[Census 2001]]</ref> | os_grid_reference= ST861228 | map_type= Dorset | latitude= 51.0066 | longitude= -2.198 | london_distance= | post_town= SHAFTESBURY | postcode_area= SP | postcode_district= SP7 | dial_code= 01747 | constituency_westminster= [[North Dorset (constituency)|North Dorset]] }} '''Shaftesbury''' is a [[town]] in North [[Dorset]], [[England]], situated on the [[A30 road]] near the [[Wiltshire]] border 20 [[mile]]s west of [[Salisbury, Wiltshire|Salisbury]]. The town is built 750 [[foot (unit of length)|feet]] (over 200 [[metre]]s) 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 [[UK|Britain]]. In 2001, the town had a [[population]] of 6,665 with 3,112 dwellings, only a small increase from 1991. There are currently 5 primary schools and an enlarged secondary school. Major employers include [[Pork Farms]], [[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, Wiltshire|Chilmark]] [[limestone]], much of which was salvaged from the demolished Shaftesbury Abbey, and have [[thatch]]ed roofs. [[Tourism]] is one of the main industries in the town. The town looks over the [[Blackmore Vale]], part of the river [[River Stour, Dorset|Stour]] basin. From different viewpoints, it is possible to see at least as far as [[Glastonbury Tor]] to the north-west. The town is famous for [[Gold Hill, Shaftesbury|Gold Hill]], a steep cobbled street featured on the cover of countless books about Dorset and rural England. It was perhaps most famously used as the street in the popular [[Ridley Scott]]-directed [[Hovis]] bread advertisement used through the 1970s and '80s. The hill most recently featured in a [[Morrisons]] supermarket advert, also for bread. 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 market]]s in Britain. The site has since been redeveloped as a supermarket. The town features in [[Thomas Hardy's Wessex]] with the names ''Shaston'' and ''Palladour'', of particular significance in ''[[Jude the Obscure]]''. Actor [[Robert Newton]], best known for his portrayal of [[Long John Silver]], was born in Shaftesbury. == History == [[Image:Shaftsburystpeters.JPG|thumb|Church of St Peter]] Although Shaftesbury's recorded history dates from [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] times, it may have been the [[Celt]]ic Caer Palladur. Its first written record as a town is in the ''[[Burghal 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 at the Abbey 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. In 1260, a charter to hold a [[market]] was granted. In 1392, [[Richard II of England|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. In 1539, the last Abbess of Shaftesbury, [[Elizabeth Zouche]], signed a deed of surrender, the (by then extremely wealthy) 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 [[exile]]d 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 1832|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 [[English Civil War|Civil War]], but was in [[Cavaliers (royalists)|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. [[Image:Shaftesbury Town Hall.jpg|thumb|Town Hall]] The town hall was built in 1827 by Earl Grosvenor after the Guildhall was pulled down to widen the high street.It has been designated by [[English Heritage]] as a grade II [[listed building]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Town Hall | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=102044 | accessdate=2007-12-29}}</ref> The town hall is next to the 15th century St Peters church.<ref>{{cite web | title=Church of St Peter | work=Images of England | url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=102046 | accessdate=2007-12-29}}</ref> 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 influenced the subsequent pattern of its growth. In 1919, Lord [[Stalbridge]] sold a large portion of the town, which was purchased by a syndicate and [[auction]]ed piece by piece over three days. Most of the [[Anglo-Saxons|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, its gabled freestone mansions&mdash;all now ruthlessly swept away&mdash;throw the visitor, even against his will, into a pensive melancholy, which the stimulating atmosphere and limitless landscape around him can scarcely dispel."'' ==See also== * [[St Mary's Shaftesbury]] school * [[Shaftesbury Abbey]] ==References== {{reflist}} * Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1979. ''Dorset''. London: Faber & Faber. * The 1985 AA illustrated guide to the country towns and villages of Britain. ==External links== * [http://shaftesburytown.co.uk/ Shaftesbury Town Web Site] * [http://www.shaftesburydorset.com/ Shaftesbury, Dorset Community Website] * [http://www.somerset3d.co.uk/logos%20&%20pictures/town%20&%20village%20pages/dorset/shaftesbury.htm Photos of Shaftesbury in 3d] ([[anaglyph image]]s) {{Dorset}} [[Category:Towns in Dorset]] [[Category:West Country Carnival]] [[de:Shaftesbury (Dorset)]] [[es:Shaftesbury]] [[nl:Shaftesbury]] [[no:Shaftesbury]] [[ro:Shaftesbury]] [[sv:Shaftesbury]] [[vo:Shaftesbury]]