Wiltshire historian David Mitchell's fascination with the North Wessex Way began when he stumbled across a 400-year-old map in a book ... was modelled on Malmesbury Abbey 12 miles away.

in the Middle Ages the building had a tall central spire... Malmesbury Abbey's founder, Maidulph, died in 675. At this time Aldhelm, a Saxon by birth and related to King Ine of Wessex, took over ...