A steep lane lined with closely packed cottages, the ruins of an abbey built around AD 888, and a museum featuring the town’s first hand-drawn fire engine give Shaftesbury a strong historical character. Add a year-round cultural programme, a public outdoor swimming pool and views across the Blackmore Vale. When planning your trip, you can therefore choose between different focuses, including the town’s history, culture and landscape.
Gold Hill and the Abbey ruins
Gold Hill is a steep street lined with closely packed cottages. It appeared in a Hovis bread advert directed by Ridley Scott in 1973. You can walk up the hill and enjoy views across the Blackmore Vale from the café at the top. There is also an easier way to reach the top via a passage beside the Town Hall on the High Street. This gives you a choice between the steep street and an easier alternative for reaching the higher ground.
Near Gold Hill are the ruins of Shaftesbury Abbey, set in a peaceful walled garden with views across the Blackmore Vale. King Alfred had the abbey built around AD 888 as the first religious house exclusively for women. The site’s history can therefore be traced back to the early Middle Ages. The Shaftesbury Abbey Museum displays Anglo-Saxon carvings and medieval floor tiles discovered during archaeological excavations.
Museums with stories of their own
The Gold Hill Museum also connects the town’s history with specific collection pieces. Among its exhibits is Shaftesbury’s first fire engine: a hand-drawn fire pump. The museum is housed in a former lodging house for drovers, performers and traders who came to the town’s markets and fairs. The collection and building thus tell two different stories about the town: its fire protection and its former travel and market life.
Castle Hill: monument and nature
Castle Hill is home to a medieval fortified house on a small, steep spur of land. It is designated as a Scheduled Monument. Historical interpretation holds that the house may have been built during the First English Civil War between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, from 1135 to 1154.
Castle Hill is also an important wildlife area and is within easy walking distance of the town centre. The landscape around Shaftesbury is another reason to visit: the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty surrounds the town to the north, east and south. If you’re interested in nature and scenery as well as historic sites, these places offer a different perspective on Shaftesbury alongside its cultural attractions.
Walking, culture and other activities
St Edward’s Way is a long-distance pilgrimage route of more than 30 miles between Wareham and Shaftesbury Abbey. A free interactive map and waymarkers help you find your way along the route. It offers a distinct way to include Shaftesbury in a walk and is separate from visiting the town’s attractions.
The Shaftesbury Arts Centre offers theatre performances, films, art, photography and craft exhibitions, workshops, and training and educational courses throughout the year. The centre was founded in 1957 in the old covered market in the centre of the medieval hilltop town. The annual Shaftesbury Carnival dates back to 1877 and raises money for local charities each year. If an event is the reason for your trip, check the dates and programme for your visit.
Shaftesbury Lido is Dorset’s only outdoor swimming pool and is open to everyone. Its history goes back to a water tank that was part of the waterworks completed in 1852. The waterworks included two deep wells at Barton Hill and a pumping station; the tank’s location is not specified more precisely. Compared with the Abbey, museums and monument, the Lido offers a very different focus for your stay.
Getting here and finding accommodation
Shaftesbury is on the A350 and is easily reached via the A303 and A30. Choose Shaftesbury according to the interests that suit you, without combining its different offerings into a single itinerary.
Discover more destinations: Iwerne Courtney, Woodsford, Sturminster Newton, Wareham, Piddlehinton, Evershot, Buckhorn Weston, Langton Matravers
Return to the main travel overview: Dorset.
