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Be a Destinations-UK-Ireland Sponsor  Some of our Dorset Articles Athelhampton House and Garden Sherborne New Castle Mapperton House Enid Blyton Sherborne Almshouse of SS John Sherborne Abbey Thomas Hardy’s Dorset Shaftesbury Shaftesbury Abbey Riding the Swanage Steam Railway Portland and Chesil Beach Portland Bill Lighthouse Lulworth Castle and Park Hambledon Hill Minterne Gardens and House Other England Articles Our Dorset Gardens Kingston Mauward Gardens Mapperton Garden Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens |
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Shaftesbury was founded as a town c. AD 880 by King Alfred the Great. He had in mind a place that would serve as a safe haven for people living locally as well as provide a place of worship. With this in mind he founded Shaftesbury abbey in AD 888 strictly for nuns. The first abbess was his daughter, Aethelgifu. It is thought the abbey was built originally of stone as it is plentiful in the area. The abbey continued in existence until 1539 when Henry VIII dissolved all of the abbeys in Britain. 
The wife of King Edmund, Elgiva, was buried in the abbey c. 944, and in 978 the presumed body of King Edward (murdered at Corfe castle by his step-mother) was brought to the abbey from Wareham. Edward was canonized in 1001, and his bones were said to have miraculous properties. From this time the abbey served as a place of pilgrimage. 
The restoration of the Saxon buildings that took place in 1035 is credited to King Canute who favoured the abbey. Other famous people connected with the abbey were Elizabeth, the wife of Robert the Bruce, who was held prisoner in 1313 and Catherine of Aragon who married Prince Arthur and Henry VIII. Because of the involvement of royalty the abbey became rich. Between 1080 and 1120 the Saxon buildings were replaced by Norman ones, and the abbey’s land holdings grew large. 
When the abbey ceased to exist there were 50 nuns living there. The stone from the buildings was stolen and used by townspeople for their own purposes. The property came into the hands of the earls of Pembroke, after which it changed hands a number of times. The Shaftesbury abbey and museum preservation trust company took over in 1985. Excavations uncovered carved stones, ruins (now the focus of the garden on the site), and artefacts. A lead casket containing bones dating to the time of Prince Edward was found, but they ended up in a Russian orthodox church near Woking. 
The abbey museum tells the story of the abbey and contains the carved stonework, medieval floor tiles, and other finds from the site. The garden’s plants are authentic to the time of the nuns who grew herbs and healing plants. There is a “medieval” orchard with apples and pears, varieties of which date from the 15th through the 19th centuries.