Salisbury - Knight & Company

The Iron Age castle rampart of "Old Sarum" was built in the 4th century BC. This was later used as a fortress by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and finally, from the 11th century, by the Normans.


At the time of the Saxon invasions, Old Sarum fell to King Cynric of Wessex. The Saxons favoured settlements in the lowlands and largely ignored Old Sarum until the Viking invasions prompted King Alfred of Wessex to rebuild the fortifications. However Old Sarum was abandoned by its inhabitants and was sacked and burnt down by the Danish-Norwegian king Sweyn Forkbeard in 1003. After the Norman invasion a castle was built by 1070, which was directly under the control of the Norman kings.

In 1075, the Council of London installed the first Bishop of Salisbury, named Herman. He and his successor, Saint Osmund, began the construction of the first Salisbury cathedral, that was completed in 1092.[

In 1220, Bishop Richard Poore of Sarum began building a new cathedral about three kilometres away in the valley south of the fortress of Old Sarum. This was the nucleus of today's city of Salisbury, initially under the name New Sarum. Just seven years later, Salisbury was granted city rights. The cathedral was consecrated in 1258 after 38 years of construction. More and more inhabitants moved to the new town and Old Sarum was abandoned over time.

Salisbury was a centre of textile production. The college was one of the most prestigious in Europe. In the 17th century, the city was the scene of several battles during the Civil War. This led to the decline of the city.


Knight & Company -