Lacock is a Wiltshire village that seems frozen in time: streets of half-timbered and stone houses, a late Gothic church, an ancient tithe barn and a great abbey turned into a home. Almost all of it belongs to the National Trust, which has preserved it without visible aerials or modern signs, and for this reason it has been chosen as a set for dozens of films and series, from Harry Potter to Pride and Prejudice. But Lacock is also the place where photography as we know it was born.
History
Lacock is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1232 Ela, Countess of Salisbury, founded an abbey of Augustinian canonesses here, of which she became abbess. Thanks to the wool trade the village prospered in the Middle Ages. With the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, the abbey was sold to William Sharington, who turned it into a country house while keeping the medieval cloisters.
In the 19th century the abbey belonged to William Henry Fox Talbot, scientist and inventor. In 1835 Talbot made here the oldest surviving photographic negative, an image of a latticed window of the abbey, and soon afterwards developed the calotype process, which made it possible to print several copies from a single negative: the basis of photography for over a century and a half. In 1944 his granddaughter Matilda Talbot gave the abbey and the village to the National Trust.
- 1232Ela, Countess of Salisbury, founds the abbey
- 1539The abbey is closed and sold to William Sharington
- 1835Fox Talbot makes the first photographic negative
- 1944The abbey and village pass to the National Trust
- 2001The cloisters appear in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
What to see
The abbey
Lacock Abbey combines medieval parts and a country house. The 14th-century cloisters, with their vaults, were used as Hogwarts corridors in the first Harry Potter films. Inside you visit the family rooms and can see the window in the south gallery shown in Talbot's first negative.
The Fox Talbot Museum
At the entrance to the estate, the Fox Talbot Museum tells the story of the beginnings of photography, with Talbot's cameras, his early images and temporary photography exhibitions.
The village
The village's four streets, High Street, East Street, West Street and Church Street, are lined with houses from the 13th to the 18th century. You can visit the great 14th-century tithe barn, St Cyriac's Church with its decorated chapel, and the packhorse bridge over the brook. Lacock has appeared in films and series such as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice, Cranford, Downton Abbey and Fantastic Beasts.
Getting there
- By train: to Chippenham, then a bus or taxi in about 15 minutes.
- By car: from the M4, about 30 minutes from Bath.
- By air: Bristol Airport is about an hour away.
Nearby
- Bath and the Roman Baths.
- The Cotswolds villages, such as Castle Combe.
- The Avebury stone circle and Stonehenge.
Tips
- How long: half a day.
- When to go: all year round; early in the morning the village is quiet.
- A tip: look for the latticed window photographed by Talbot in the abbey's south gallery: seeing it in person is like standing at the origin of all photographs.