Shaftesbury

Shaftesbury
High Street
Coat of Arms of Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury Location within Dorset
Population	9,162 (2021 census)[1]
OS grid reference	ST861228
• London	97 miles
Civil parish	Shaftesbury
Unitary authority	Dorset
Ceremonial county	Dorset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SHAFTESBURY
Postcode district	SP7
Dialling code	01747
Police	Dorset
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	North Dorset
List of places UK England Dorset 51°00′21″N 2°11′49″W / 51.0059°N 2.1969°W / 51.0059; -2.1969

Shaftesbury (/ˈʃɑːftsbəri, ˈʃæfts-/) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, 20 miles (32 kilometres) west of Salisbury and 23 miles (37 kilometres) north-northeast of Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about 215 metres (705 feet) above sea level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase.

The town looks over the Blackmore Vale, part of the River Stour basin.

Shaftesbury is the site of the former Shaftesbury Abbey, which was founded in 888 by King Alfred and became one of the richest religious establishments in the country, before being destroyed in the dissolution in 1539. Adjacent to the abbey site is Gold Hill, a steep cobbled street used in the 1970s as the setting for Ridley Scott's television advertisement for Hovis bread.

In the 2021 census the town's civil parish had a population of 9,162.^[1]