Dorchester Abbey has missed out on the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize after failing to make the final shortlist.

The prize is open to museums and galleries which show originality, imagination and innocation and increase the public's appreciation of what is on offer and the Abbey's cloister gallery had been nominated.

The money would have been used to set up an educational scheme encouraging more people to understand the Abbey's history, but it did not make the final cut for the shortlist of four.

Campaign leader John Metcalfe said: "It is a big disappointment not to have made the short list.

"But the judges were very impressed with our bid and we did the best we could.

"The Cloister Display Gallery has been submitted for other awards and we hope we'll be luckier later this year."

The gallery was the smallest project ever to have made the long list of ten from which the short list is chosen.

Now the choice for the prize is between the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Brunel's SS Great Britain, London's Hunterian Museum and the collection of county history in Lincoln.