Old Sarum

Coordinates: 51°05′36″N 01°48′17″W / 51.09333°N 1.80472°W / 51.09333; -1.80472
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For the aerodrome, see Old Sarum Airfield. For its political history, see Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency).
A reconstruction of Old Sarum in the 12th century, housed at Salisbury Cathedral

Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about two miles (three kilometres) north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest records in the country. It is an English Heritage property and is open to the public.

The great

Henry VIII in 1514. Edward Rutherfurd's 1987 novel Sarum
traces the history of the town.

Although the settlement was effectively uninhabited, its landowners continued to have parliamentary representation into the 19th century, making it one of the most notorious of the rotten boroughs that existed before the Reform Act of 1832. Old Sarum served as a pocket borough of the Pitt family.

Old Sarum is also the name of a modern settlement north-east of the monument, where there is a grass strip airfield and a small business park, and large 21st-century housing developments.

Name

For the further etymology of Salisbury, see Salisbury.

The present name seems to be a

New Sarum, the formal name of the present-day city of Salisbury
until 2009.

History

Old Sarum at Noon, a graphite sketch on slightly textured, medium white wove paper, 23.2 cm × 33.7 cm, 20 July 1829. Yale Center for British Art.
An 1829 sketch of Old Sarum by John Constable, displaying the site of the abandoned hillfort

Prehistory

There is evidence that early hunters and, later, farming communities occupied the site. A protective

Sorviodunum, was constructed by the local inhabitants around 400 BC[8] during the Iron Age
by creating enormous banks and ditches surrounding the hill. The hillfort is broadly oval shaped, measuring 400 m (1,300 ft) in length and 360 m (1,180 ft) in width. It consists of a double bank and intermediate ditch with an entrance on the eastern side.

Numerous other hillforts of the same period can be found locally, including

Sir R.C. Hoare described it as "a city of high note in the remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to the two largest stone circles in England, namely, Stonehenge and Avebury."[a]

Roman period

At the time of the

28 cities of Britain by the History of the Britons traditionally ascribed to Nennius.[13]

Saxon period

mint.[2]

A 1916 plan of Old Sarum by the Ordnance Survey (300 ft ≈ 92 m)

Norman period

See also: Old Sarum Cathedral and Old Sarum Castle

A

Callixtus III in 1457.[21]

The

William Rufus confirmed its bishop in various additional sources of income, which were later confirmed by Henry II.[14]
: 1 

The

King Stephen, the bishop administered the castle on the king's behalf;[14]: 2  it was thereafter allowed to fall into disrepair but the sheriff and castellan continued to administer the area under the king's authority.[29]

Angevin period

See also: Angevin kings of England
Aerial view of Old Sarum
Aerial view of Old Sarum

Medieval Sarum also seems to have had industrial facilities such as kilns and furnaces.

tournaments.[30]

An early 12th-century observer,

John as the prime reason to relocate the cathedral[14]
: 2  but seems to have only been part of the issue.

The late 12th-century canon

plate,[14]
: 3  but was forced to delay the change after John's succession.

By

consecrated a cemetery.[14]: 4  On St Vitalis's Day, April 28, 1220, the foundation of the future stone cathedral was begun.[14]
: 5 

The settlement that grew up around it was called New Salisbury, then (at least formally) New Sarum, then finally Salisbury. The former cathedral was formally dissolved in 1226.[27] The inhabitants of the new city gradually razed the old, constructing Salisbury Cathedral and other buildings from the materials at Old Sarum. Evidence of quarrying into the 14th century shows some continued habitation,[15] but the settlement was largely abandoned and Edward II ordered the castle's demolition in 1322.[27]

The present ruins: the exposed foundations of the cathedral in the foreground and the Norman central motte behind

Modern period

See also: Old Sarum (UK Parliament constituency)

The castle grounds were sold by

rotten boroughs. The 1832 Reform Act subsumed the Old Sarum area into an enlarged borough of Wilton. The fortified site[33] was an extra-parochial area and became a civil parish in 1858, but the civil parish was abolished in 1894.[34] The site and surrounding area is now the northernmost part of Salisbury civil parish.[35]

The exposed foundations of the cathedral

The site of the castle and cathedral is considered a highly important British monument: it was among the 26 English locations

Grade I site in 1972.[37]

Between 1909 and 1915,

Philip Rahtz.[27]

In 2014, an on-site

Romano-British site to the south of the hillfort.[15]

20th and 21st centuries

Drone view of Old Sarum

The Old Sarum monument is now administered by English Heritage, and non-members are charged for admission.[38] A paved carpark and grass overflow carpark are provided in the eastern area of the outer bailey.

In 1917, during World War I, farmland about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of Old Sarum, along the Portway, was developed as the 'Ford Farm' aerodrome. That became Old Sarum Airfield, which remained in operation with a single grass runway until at least 2019[39] with a small business park which developed along the north edge of the airfield. As of January 2023 the airfield is still operational, but only by prior arrangement.[40]

Around 800 homes were built on the north side of the Portway between 2008 and 2016,[41] and this area (which includes Old Sarum Primary School)[42] is also called Old Sarum. From 2018, further housing called Longhedge Village, around 750 homes accessed from the A345, was built immediately north of the earlier development.[41][43] These areas all fall within Laverstock civil parish, while the monument itself – separated from modern development by about 0.6 miles (1 km) of farmland – is within the Salisbury City area.[35]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Ancient Wilts," — Sir R.C. Hoare, speaking of Stonehenge, expresses his opinion that "our earliest inhabitants were Celts, who naturally introduced with them their own buildings customs, rites, and religions ceremonies, and to them I attribute the erection of Stonehenge, and the greater part of the sepulchral memorials that still continue to render its environs so truly interesting to the antiquary and historian." Abury, or Avebury, is a village amidst the remains of an immense temple, which for magnificence and extent is supposed to have exceeded the more celebrated fabric of Stonehenge; some enthusiastic inquirers have however, carried their supposition beyond probability, and in their zeal have even supposed them to be antediluvian labours! Many of the barrows in the vicinity of Sarum have been opened, and in them several antiquarian relics have been discovered. In short, the whole county is one of high antiquarian interest, and its history has been illustrated with due fidelity and research. This has led more recent scholars to doubt the original inhabitants were actually Celts. It is now believed they may have been the much earlier "Beaker People", so named for the beaker-shaped pots they made.

References

  1. ^ Salisbury in the Domesday Book
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Salisbury". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  3. ^
    Oxoniensia. LIX. Oxford Architectural and Historical Society
    : 55–56. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  4. ^ Samuel, Lewis (1835). Topographical Dictionary of England. Vol. IV.
  5. ISBN 0-7134-5698-1
    .
  6. ^ Blake, Norman Francis; et al. (1984). English Historical Linguistics: Studies in development. CECTAL Conference Papers Series. Vol. 3. Sheffield, GB: Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language.
  7. ^ Crittall, Elizabeth, ed. (1962). "Salisbury: The word 'Sarum'". A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 6. Victoria County History. University of London. pp. 93–94. Retrieved 5 November 2021 – via British History Online.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Old Sarum archaeologists reveal plan of medieval city". BBC News. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Roman Sorbiodunum". Stratford Sub Castle. Salisbury, GB. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  10. ^ a b Roberts, Peter (1811). The Chronicle of the Kings of Britain. London, GB: E. Williams. SUBTITLE: Translated from the Welsh Copy Attributed to Tysilio; Collated with Several Other Copies, and Illustrated with Copious Notes; to Which Are Added, Original Dissertations.
  11. ^ Oxford Jesus College MS. 111 (The Red Book of Hergest). (in Old Welsh). Cardiff, Wales: University of Cardiff. 2014. p. 147r, col. 600. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Trioedd Ynys Prydain, Cas Bethau, Enwau ac Anrhyfeddodau Ynys Prydain
  12. ^ Nennius (attrib.) (1900) [composed after 830 AD]. Mommsen, T. (ed.). 'Historia Brittonum, VI.  (in Latin) – via Latin Wikisource.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Newman, John Henry; et al. (1844). St. German, Bishop of Auxerre. Lives of the English Saints. London, GB: James Toovey. Ch. X: "Britain in 429, A. D.", p. 92. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Baldwin, R. (1774). A Description of that Admirable Structure, the Cathedral Church of Salisbury. London, GB. Retrieved 3 January 2015 – via Archive.org. SUBTITLE With the Chapels, Monuments, Grave-Stones, and their Inscriptions. To which is prefixed, an Account of Old Sarum
  15. ^ a b c d e f Strutt, Kristian (3 December 2014). "Archaeologists reveal layout of medieval city at Old Sarum" (Press release). Southampton, GB: University of Southampton. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  16. ^ Brompton, Twysd, 866.[clarification needed]
  17. ^ Hunt, William. "Sweyn (d. 1014)" in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. LV. Smith, Elder, & Co. (London), 1898. Hosted at Wikisource. Accessed 3 Jan 2014.
  18. ^ a b British History Online. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300, Vol. IV, "Salisbury: Bishops". Institute of Historical Research (London), 1991.
  19. ^ Sarum Charters, 373.
  20. ^ Bergh, Frederick T. "Sarum Rite" in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII. Robert Appleton Co. (New York), 1912. Hosted at New Advent. Accessed 28 Dec 2014.
  21. ISBN 0-521-37950-4
    .
  22. Roger of Hoveden
  23. ^ The Ecclesiologist, p. 60.[full citation needed]
  24. ^ "Old Sarum". Sacred Destinations. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  25. ^ a b c Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Roger, bishop of Salisbury" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 454.
  26. ISBN 0-582-48727-7
    .
  27. ^ a b c d e f Historic England. "Old Sarum (1015675)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  28. ^ a b c Keys, David (3 December 2014). "Archaeologists find vast medieval palace buried under prehistoric fortress at Old Sarum". The Independent. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  29. ^ Storer, James (1819). History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Churches of Great Britain. Vol. IV. London, GB: Rivingtons. p. 73.
  30. ^ Ditchfield, P.H. (1901). English Villages. London, GB: Methuen & Co. Chapter XI.
  31. ^ Robinson, J. Armitage. "Peter of Blois" in Somerset Historical Essays, pp. 128 f. Oxford University Press (London), 1921.
  32. ^ Peter of Blois, Epistle No. 105.
  33. ^ "Boundary Map of Old Sarum ExP/CP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  34. ^ "Old Sarum ExP/CP". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  35. ^ a b "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  36. ^ Ancient Monuments Protection Act, 1882 [45 & 46 Vict. Ch. 73], reprinted in Robert Hunter's The Preservation of Places of Interest or Beauty, App. A: "The Ancient Monument Protection Acts", p. 37. University Press (Manchester), 1907. Hosted at Wikisource. Accessed 3 Jan 2014.
  37. ^ Historic England. "Remains of Old Sarum castle and cathedral (1015675)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  38. ^ "Old Sarum". English Heritage. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  39. ^ "Salisbury Old Sarum Airfield closes after housing plan rejected". 31 October 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  40. ^ "Old Sarum Airfield Ltd". January 2023.
  41. ^ a b "Laverstock and Ford Communities Draft Neighbourhood Plan – Appendix 4: Development of the Parish" (PDF). May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  42. ^ "Old Sarum Primary School". Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  43. ^ "Laverstock and Ford Communities Draft Neighbourhood Plan" (PDF). May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Old Sarum.

51°05′36″N 01°48′17″W / 51.09333°N 1.80472°W / 51.09333; -1.80472

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