Gold Hill, Shaftesbury – The Real Location Behind The Gold Hill Murders
Gold Hill is a real steep cobbled street in Shaftesbury, north Dorset, famous from the 1973 Hovis advert, and it's the setting for The Gold Hill Murders, book 13 in my Dorset Crime series. As I discovered on my research trip, Gold Hill is about a lot more than a Hovis advert.
Where is Gold Hill?
Gold Hill is in Shaftesbury, in north Dorset. I have to admit that before travelling to Shaftesbury to research the book, I'd never been there. It's not on my route to Dorset from Birmingham, at least not conveniently, and it's far enough away from the places I tend to base myself in Dorset for me to have never taken a day trip there. But when I did visit, I discovered that it's a fascinating place.
I went to Shaftesbury towards the end of the year, when the weather was closer to what it would be in the book. The Gold Hill Murders is set in September, and in the book it's been raining. The sun hasn't been blasting out, it hasn't been 35 degrees in the shade, and people aren't melting.
Gold Hill and the Hovis advert
I started at the top of Gold Hill and did the standard tourist thing, along with a lot of other people who were jostling for the best spot to take a photo.
Yes, I took my photo.
Not sure why I bothered, really, as it's not as if there aren't millions of photos of Gold Hill from the top available on stock photography. But some things just have to be done.
I then spent a little bit of time checking out the monument, if that's the correct word, to the Hovis advert that was filmed here in 1973 – Ridley Scott's famous 'Bike Ride', no less.
I get the feeling that this massive loaf of bread has been here quite a while. It looks quite weathered. I don't know about you, but my memory of the Hovis advert puts it in Yorkshire in my head. But when you actually watch it, the accent of the narrator is firmly West Country. There's just something about the music and that feel of the boys cycling up the hill that makes you think of a Yorkshire village. Here it is, in case you don't know what I'm talking about.
So, I checked out the Hovis loaf, took my photo, and then turned round and spotted that there is a bookshop right at the top of the hill. Folde is a lovely little independent bookshop that generally sells non-fiction books about the countryside and about the local area.
What's behind the wall on Gold Hill?
After I'd had a little wander around the bookshop, it was time to walk down the hill. The thing that immediately struck me, that isn't obvious from the photos or from that Hovis video, is that on the opposite side of the hill from the houses that you see pictured in all those chocolate-box photos is a looming wall.
I always assumed there were more cottages on the other side of the road, but no.
The wall marks the boundary with Shaftesbury Abbey, which has quite some history. Sadly, it's now a ruin, but some remains do exist, and you can visit it. You can also visit the gardens, which are vast and have wonderful views across the Dorset countryside.
The abbey was founded by King Alfred the Great in 888 and run by Benedictine nuns – his own daughter was its first abbess. It grew into the wealthiest nunnery in England and a place of pilgrimage, until Henry VIII dissolved it in 1539. So I made a mental note to myself to find out what was on the other side of that wall, and also considered the fact that beyond the wall might be a really good spot for my crime scene.
After all, dumping a body in the middle of Gold Hill might not go down all that well.
Researching The Gold Hill Murders in Shaftesbury
So I walked down the hill and turned to take the obligatory photo, facing back up again.
I then had a little wander around the bottom of the hill, and found the cottages where one of the witnesses in the book lives. I imagine that living in those slightly more modern cottages is probably preferable to living in the iconic cottages on the hill itself, mainly because you haven't got tourists peering in through your windows and taking photos of your house all day, every day, and also because those very old houses aren't very easy to look after.
Then I found a little playground and some woods, which linked up nicely with the story idea that I'd already had for this book.
I hadn't written a book about arson before, and after reading a memoir by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, a firefighter who worked her way up through the ranks and did a lot of work on the psychology of effective firefighting, I decided I wanted to write about a murder dressed up as an accidental fire. I'm not going to give you any more detail, as you'll have to read the book. But I decided that a clearing that I found in these woods would be the ideal spot for the victim to be found in the opening chapter. I had fun imagining the firefighters careening around Shaftesbury's narrow lanes and avoiding the kerbs and encroaching cottages.
So now it was time to walk back up the hill. I trudged back up Gold Hill, paused for another look back down, resisted the temptation to take another photo and headed into Shaftesbury itself. I stopped off for some food in one of the pubs, again looking at that wonderful view. There's a benefit to steep hills, you know.
I then wandered over to the grounds of the old abbey. I didn't have time to explore the abbey itself – that's something to look forward to another day – but I did want to walk through the gardens down the hill, and see what spots I might find that could be used in the book. Eventually, I found myself back in that playground and those woods, but not before enjoying a very pleasant walk down a meandering slope that took in some impressive views.
So there I was again at the bottom of the hill. Oh my word. I was going to have to climb it again. It's a good job I work out regularly. Back at the top, and out of breath, I was confident I had everything I needed. I paused for a sit down on a bench and to admire the view, and then headed home.
In The Gold Hill Murders, DCI Lesley Clarke's team have to navigate the narrow streets, alleyways and cobbled hills of Shaftesbury, without the leisure of a day to wander around and get their bearings.
Can you visit Gold Hill?
Yes. If you haven't been to Shaftesbury, I can recommend visiting, especially in early May, when the town holds the gloriously daft Gold Hill Cheese Race – competitors charging up that brutal slope clutching a truckle of cheese.
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New to the series? Start with The Corfe Castle Murders, or get the prequel novella The Ballard Down Murder free.
