Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury is a town and also civil parish in Dorset, England. It is located on the A30 road, 20 miles (32 kilometres) west of Salisbury, close to the boundary with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hill settlement in Dorset, being constructed about 215 metres (705 ft) above water level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase. The community looks over the Blackmore Vale, part of the River Stour basin. From various viewpoints, it is possible to see at least regarding Glastonbury Tor to the northwest. Shaftesbury is the website of the previous Shaftesbury Abbey, which was founded in 888 by King Alfred and became one of the richest religious establishments in the nation, prior to being destroyed in the Dissolution in 1539. Beside the abbey website is Gold Hill, a steep cobbled street used in the 1970s as the setup for Ridley Scott's television ad for Hovis bread. In the 2011 census the town's civil parish had a population of 7,314.
