The 15th century stone and oak homes of Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, England

  
   
 
 
 

 


These homes are in a market town founded by King Alfred the Great in 880. The homes on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, England date from the mid-15th Century. They are built from local greenstone, a pale yellow sandstone that turns green when it is freshly exposed to the air. The floors are supported on oak beams and the roofs are either slate or thatched.

     
       

Many of the homes in this idyllic street are protected for architectural and historic interest. Gold Hill established a place deep in the modern English psyche when it was chosen over 40 years ago by a bread baker for their TV advert (play video above). To steep walls on the right of this picture are the ramparts of Shaftesbury Abbey where King Canute died.