Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury (locally Shaston), a very ancient municipal borough in Dorsetshire, 3 miles SSW. of Semley station and 22 WSW. of Salisbury. It stands on a narrow chalk ridge, and commands magnificent views over Dorset-, Somerset-, and Wiltshires. The Caer Palladwr of the Britons, it was made by King Alfred the seat of a famous abbey of Benedictine nuns (880), whither Edward the Martyr's body was translated in 980, and where Canute died, 1035. At the date of Domesday Shaftesbury had three mints and twelve churches, but four only remain—St Peter's (Norman) the most interesting. Till 1832 Shaftesbury returned two members, and then till 1885 one. Pop. (1851) 2493; (1891) 2122. See Mayo's Municipal Records of Shaftesbury (Sherborne, 1891).