Sauntering in Sarum

We spent last weekend exploring the delights of Salisbury. It is a cathedral city in Wiltshire and has also been called New Sarum to distinguish it from the original site of settlement to the north of the city at Old Sarum.  

The origins of the name "Sarum" are obscure but one of the first known uses of "Sarum" is on the seal of Saint Nicholas Hospital, Salisbury, which was in use in 1239. Also, Bishop Wyville (1330–1375) was the first Bishop to describe himself "episcopus Sarum".  The city is near the edge of Salisbury Plain and sits at the confluence of five rivers: the Nadder, Ebble, Wylye and Bourne and the Avon.

 

The Rose and Crown was our home for the weekend and also the venue for the party celebrations we were attending on Saturday night.

Although the actual city was not established until 1220, there has been a settlement in the area since prehistory

The Market Place has a continental feel about it

In 1219 Richard Poore, the then Bishop of Sarum, decided to establish a new town and cathedral on an estate in his possession (confusingly known as Veteres Sarisberias — Old Salisburys) in the valley, on the banks of the River Avon

The town was laid out in a grid pattern, and work started in 1220, with the cathedral commencing the following year. The town developed rapidly, and by the 14th century was the foremost town in Wiltshire.

The city wall surrounds the Close and was built in the 14th century. There are five gates in the wall; four are original, known as the High Street Gate, St Ann's Gate, the Queen's Gate, and St Nicholas's Gate. A fifth was created in the 19th century to allow access to Bishop Wordsworth's School located inside the Cathedral Close.

The Rifles Military Museum in the Cathedral Close

Other houses in the Cathedral Close include Arundells, Mompesson House, and the award-winning Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum with its Stonehenge Gallery.

Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral and is considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture. The main body was completed in only 38 years, from 1220 to 1258

The cathedral has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom (123m/404 ft). Visitors can take the "Tower Tour" where the interior of the hollow spire, with its ancient wood scaffolding, can be viewed.

The cathedral also has the largest cloister and also contains the world's oldest working clock (from AD 1386) and has the best surviving of the four original copies of the Magna Carta

Among the people buried in the cathedral, is Sir Edward Heath KG MBE (1916–2005). He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and as a member of parliament from 1950 to 2001. He lived in the Cathedral Close for the last twenty years of his life.

Old Sarum (Latin: Sorviodunum) is the site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. The site contains evidence of human habitation as early as 3000 BC. Old Sarum is mentioned in some of the earliest records in the country. It is located on a hill about two miles north of modern Salisbury next to the A345 road

Old Sarum was originally an Iron age hill fort strategically placed on the conjunction of two trade routes and the River Avon. The hill fort is broadly oval in shape. The site was used by the Romans, becoming the town of Sorviodunum. The Saxons used the site as a stronghold against marauding Vikings, and the Normans built a stone curtain wall around the Iron age perimeter and a centrally placed castle on a motte protected by a deep dry moat. A royal palace was built within the castle for King Henry I and subsequently used by Plantagenet monarchs. A Norman cathedral and bishop's residence were built at the western end of the town. 

Relations between the clerics of the cathedral and the castle guard were punctuated with outbreaks of petulance and occasional violence. The churchmen became so exasperated that in 1219 Bishop Richard Poore decided that enough was enough, and he determined to build a new cathedral at a location several miles to the south. A settlement grew up around the site of the new cathedral, and it is this settlement that is the modern city of Salisbury.

With the shift of settlement away from Old Sarum to New Sarum (Salisbury) the old site lapsed and the castle fell into disuse. Despite the fact that the site was derelict, Old Sarum continued to send a representative to Parliament until the mid 19th century.

 

It is now an English Heritage property and open to the public.