Malmesbury

The west tower of Malmesbury Abbey

Malmesbury is a market town in north Wiltshire, just south of the Cotswolds. The town became popular during the Middle Ages as the abbey as a centre for learning. It is the oldest borough in England. Malmesbury was created by a charter of Alfred the Great about 880 AD. It was once the site of an Iron Age hill fort.

Malmesbury Media

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  Abbey Gardens along the River Avon

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  The interior of Malmesbury Abbey

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  Malmesbury and Westport from the Ordnance Survey one-inch map, first edition, 1828

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  The Town Hall and Museum, Malmesbury

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  The main entrance to Malmesbury Abbey (the South Porch) seen from the graveyard. This image shows the full modern extent of the Abbey; to the right lie only ruins.

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  Typical scene in central Malmesbury, showing older modernised property, but highly preserved from its original construction

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  Malmesbury Market Cross, c. 1490

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  A large building of medieval origins, now a private home, Tower House stands at the end of Oxford Street. It contains a high-roofed main hall where it is said Henry VIII dined after hunting in nearby Bradon Forest. In the 1840s, a doctor living in the house, with a passion for astronomy, built a narrow tower protruding high from the roof. It dominates the skyline of the east of the town.