The story begins at a place called Old Sarum, two miles north of modern Salisbury. It was known to be an Iron Age earthwork and later became a Roman fort. In Saxon times was an important political centre, a Witenagemot being held there in 960 AD. In 1070, William the Conqueror reviewed his troops there and it became a Bishopric with a Cathedral and a Castle.
The
first Cathedral was mostly destroyed within days of its consecration by a huge
storm. Only the nave survived to be incorporated into Bishop Roger's
restoration. Osmund, a powerful Bishop and Chancellor of England, completed the
rebuilding and established the Constitution based on the Chapter of the Bayeux
Cathedral in France.
In 1220 the authorities decided to abandon
the site after problems arose between the military and the clergy.
The
old Cathedral fell into ruin and many of its stones were used to build a new
Cathedral in Salisbury. Situated at the confluence of four rivers, Salisbury is
the only city within the county of Wiltshire.
The Cathedral hosts the
tallest spire in England at 404 feet and it dominates the city. Many legends
grew from the choice of the site to build the Cathedral; some say that the
flight of an arrow shot by an archer from the ramparts of Old Sarum marked the
place, another that the Virgin Mary appeared to Bishop Poore in a dream telling
him to build in 'Mary's Field' which was the site selected, even though is was
low-lying and marshy.
Salisbury is one of the few Cathedrals built in the shape of a double
cross with the arms of the transept branching off on either side. The cloisters
are larger and older than any other of the English cathedrals.
The
spire was added 100 years after its concecration and its immense weight, some
6000 tons, meant much strengthening. The Cathedral is home to a wealth of
history and many unique treasures including an ancient clock mechanism dating
from 1386 and said to be the oldest piece of machinery still at work in Britain,
if not the entire world.