Gold Hill is the most famous street in Shaftesbury, a town full of quaint corners and superb views on the edge of a 700-foot plateau. This ancient cobbled street, running beside the walls of King Alfred’s abbey, features on countless...

King Alfred the Great founded Shaftesbury Abbey as a Benedictine nunnery in 880AD. It stood for many hundreds of years as one of the most significant buildings in the region and acted as a catalyst for prosperity for the...

Located at the top of Gold Hill, Shaftesbury Town Museum is an interesting attraction for those looking to discover more about the town, its history and the people of the region. As well as enjoying fine views from the...

Located close to the village of Sturminster Newton in the charming Dorset countryside, this medieval manor house is maintained by English Heritage. The structure was originally built for the sheriff of Dorset and remains almost entirely intact. The...

The Gillingham Local History Society was founded in 1953 in order to oversee the extensive collection that the Freame family had bequeathed to the parish. The collection can be found at Gillingham Museum; it is large and varied in...

Visitors to the village of Mere in Wiltshire are sometimes surprised by the scale of the ancient fortification of Mere Castle that dominates the community. The top of the battlements can be reached via a steep climb up hundreds of...

Mere’s historic clock tower can be found in the centre of the village on the High Street. The structure was first erected in 1868 and was built originally to replace a medieval Market House that had fallen into disrepair. It...

Founded in 1970, the Mere Museum is housed in a beautiful historic house that dates from 1839. Starting as a small and modest collection, the museum now proudly houses over six thousand pieces covering a variety of topics....

The unusual hexagonal ruins of Old Wardour Castle stand serenely in its lakeside setting protected by acres of wood. But this beguiling scene of rural tranquillity masks a bloodthirsty past - a terrible battle was fought here in 1643 when...

St Michael the Archangel Church dominates the skyline of the pretty Wiltshire village of Mere. The earliest parts of this magnificent church date from the 13th Century with various aspects added to throughout the next century. In the 15th Century,...

This small museum is housed in a converted Victorian chapel at the heart of the community. The collection contains a variety of objects, photographs and printed materials relating to the history of this, and many surrounding communities. Highlights...

The United Reformed Church in the Wiltshire village of Mere is a large grey and somewhat austere looking building. The church was built around 1700 by non-conformist Presbyterians who wished to worship God along less tradition lines than those practiced...

The picturesque village of Mere in Wiltshire seems a million miles away from global conflict, but even in this quiet corner of Great Britain men from the community went to war. The stark and simple stone war memorial takes pride...