A photographer’s unlucky day – a visit to Shaftesbury

In recent years I gave visited Shaftesbury twice and each time I have come away thinking that I have missed something – or that something is missing in the town.

It is certainly a town full of nooks and crannies with fascinating looking shops

And even stranger things looking down on one from above.

Perhaps I have been unlucky because each time I have visited the “oldest church in the town” it has been closed. It could be that I arrive too late for afternoon tea.

Nevertheless I troll off happily to see what I take to be another imposing church with a tower, a little way from the centre. After some difficulty I enter the grounds/ graveyard? Only to find that the building is a block of impenetrable offices and no longer a church.

Close by there is a rather splendid building or series of buildings which could have been a monastic dwelling or possibly a school.

As it is surrounded by “private” notices I gather it is no longer either of these – instead a series of private dwellings – with no note of its history save a modern name tag “King Edward’s Court!”

By careful research I gather it had been a school at one time – but no longer so.

Down the hill – quite some way from the centre I go in search of what is clearly an ancient dwelling. The blue plaque tells me that the “centre part of the house predates the dissolution of Shaftesbury Abbey in 1539” –

so perhaps the outside bits are a sort of copy. Certainly they appear to be well looked after.

Prompted by the notice I go in search of the remains of the abbey. They are rather tucked away but a helpful guide ensures that I am filled in with all the details. It is a small well-cared for site and presented with a little more imagination than many. 

Eventually I have to visit Gold Hill.

Yes I know I don’t look old enough to remember the Hovis advert. As I elbow my way through the elderly visitors with their mobile phones, disability scooters and cameras, I notice the street looks rather plain – clearly the Hovis advertising company enhanced their copy of the view. It could just be that I am unlucky – the sun not being at quite the right angle. Sadly supper that night was also disappointing as we had already finished the loaf.

A photographer’s unlucky day.

By next Friday our address will be https://ifotophilia.org but never fear you can still reach us with the usual one. The old address will continue to work for some time.