[Gold Hill, Shafesbury]

Silence isn’t empty, it’s full of answers.

It was a chilly day, this fourth day of October. Chilly and windy. Mariam and I had just had a very enjoyable lunch with a former student of mine, Sally, and her husband, Matthew. Sally was in my Geography class when I had the joy of being an exchange teacher at a school in southern Dorset. It was 1984-85 and after a decade or two of trying to reconnect with former staff and students via Facebook, I finally linked up with Sally. She and her friend helped me to navigate the intricate British School System…not an easy thing to do.

That was forty years ago!

So, there we were with forty-five minutes on our hands before they had to return to their horse farm in Hampshire. We needed a bit of fresh air, so we strolled along the Abbey Walk, overlooking the dreamy, green hills of Dorset. Sheep appeared as tiny white dots in the hazy distance. The view was breathtaking, but not like the Grand Canyon, but more like a cathedral.

[The hills of Dorset stretch out behind Mariam. The Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury. Photo is mine.]

[Ruins of the once important Abbey in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England. Photo is mine.]

We arrived at the end of the walk, turned and began our way back to the town center. On our left were the stone walls of a former abbey. It had always been closed when I had made this walk, back in the day. The four of us decided to have a look. It was free (donation only) so why not? A gentleman stepped out from the gift shop and greeted us. We asked for the sixty second lecture as Sally and Matthew were pressed for time. Our questions piled on and after five minutes we were left to roam the grounds on our own.

So, what was so important about this place, this smallish ground broken by rock mounds and clusters of flowers and an empty tomb?

Let me tell you a brief tale…a tale of kings, vikings, saints, sinners…

But here’s the caveat…how can I tell a cohesive story about a place that has existed in one form or another since 888 AD? I’ll try.

King Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington, Wiltshire, in 878 AD. Ten years later he founded the Abbey where I now stood. It was the first community not to be connected with a male community (for obvious reasons), and he appointed his daughter, Aethelgifu, as the first Abbess. She was very pious, very independent, very knowledgeable…and very young. When she donned the habit of Abbess, she was of fifteen years old. These days, most fifteen-year-olds are busy Tik-Tocking (a generalization, I know) and not the spiritual head of ninety nuns.

[Just inside the gate of the Abbey is the stone coffin. Photo is mine.]

The Abbey was connected to royalty for over 650 years, until it was dissolved on the order of Henry VIII (in 1539).

Who else passed, or was carried through the gates of this revered place? In 944, St. Elgiva, wife of King Edmund was buried there. In 978, the boy King Edward, grandson of St. Elgiva, was murdered at a royal hunting cottage in Corfe Castle. One story told is that his body was thrown down a well. Soon, miracles began being attributed to Edward. His bones were somehow and not without controversy, eventually made there way to Shaftesbury Abbey.

Then more miracles, more pilgrims, and more money began flowing into the coffers.

Edward was canonized in 1001, and because of his fame and importance as a saint, his bones were distributed to other churches. More on him at the end.

In 1501, Catherine of Aragon stayed at the Abbey on her way to London to marry Prince Arthur, the elder brother of Henry VIII. Sadly, Arthur died unexpectedly, so Catherine did the obvious. She married Henry. His dispute with the Pope led to a split with the Catholics, which in turn led to the founding of the Church of England.

The rest is history, as they say.

Shortly afterwards, the Dissolution of the Monasteries began. Shaftesbury was literally taken apart, the stones stolen by local lords to build the great houses in the nearby hills.

In 1985, a charity took over the grounds and some excavations began. Some believe that a small lead casket found on the site, may be the remains of Edward. This is still an open question. The bones ended up at a Russian Orthodox Church in Woking. Go figure.

Ten years later, a new alter, designed by Richard Grasby was built. Hopefully to accept the mortal remains of Edward, returned to the Abbey at some future date. Don’t hold your breath.

[A future resting place for Edward the Martyr? Photo is mine.]

I’ve just given you a story covering over a millennium of history. The history of an Abbey, not so famous as some, but important and vital in it’s own way.

We left Sally and Matthew to their long drive home.

Me? I ducked into a small book shop…just to look around.

Just to look around, mind you.

[Video content is mine.]

(The information used in this post came from the pamphlet “A Brief History and Guide to the Abbey Garden” published by The Shaftesbury Abbey Museum and Gardens.)