Old Sarum/New Salisbury

Today we visited the site of the original settlement that eventually became what we know today as Salisbury.

There is evidence of human habitation at the site from 3000BC.

William the Conqueror made this his home, and the original cathedral was built during his reign. His son, Henry I, had a grander Palace built and for a while the relationship between royalty and clergy was quite healthy.

However, 150 years later, things between the Church and the King ( Henry III ) were not so rosy, and Bishop Robert Poore oversaw the building of the new Cathedral, beginning in 1220, but died in 1237, before it was completed. The Cathedral was eventually dedicated in 1258.

Old Sarum slowly dwindled as people moved to the new bigger town and Henry VIII dismantled it.