Salisbury

From the records: “A protective hill fort, named Sorviodunum, was constructed by the local inhabitants around 400 BC during the Iron Age by creating enormous banks and ditches surrounding the hill.”

From the records: “At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, the area of Old Sarum seems to have formed part of the territory of the Atrebates, a British tribe apparently ruled by Gaulish exiles.”

From the records: “In the early part of the 9th century, it was a frequent residence of Egbert of Wessex and, in 960, King Edgar assembled a national council there to plan a defence against the Danes in the north.”

From the records: “Along with Wilton, however, it was abandoned by its residents to be sacked and burned by the Dano-Norwegian king Sweyn Forkbeard in 1003.”

From the records: “A motte-and-bailey castle was built by 1069, three years after the Norman Conquest.”

From the records: “The Domesday Book was probably presented to William the Conqueror at Old Sarum in 1086, the same year he convened the prelates, nobles, sheriffs, and knights of his dominions there to pay him homage by the Oath of Salisbury.”

From the records: “In 1075, the Council of London established Herman as the first bishop of Salisbury (Seriberiensis episcopus), uniting his former sees of Sherborne and Ramsbury into a single diocese which covered the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, and Berkshire.”

From the records: “In the 1190s, the plain[clarification needed] between Old Sarum and Wilton was one of five specially designated by Richard I for the holding of English tournaments.”

From the records: “In 1197, bishop Herbert Poore sought permission to re-site the cathedral, possibly due to deteriorating relations between the clergy and the military at Old Sarum.”

From the records: “New Sarum was made a city by a charter from King Henry III in 1227 and, by the 14th century, was the largest settlement in Wiltshire.”

From the records: “Built over a relatively short period, some 38 years between 1220 and 1258, it has a unity and coherence that is unusual in medieval English cathedrals.”

From the records: “In the 13th and 14th centuries, Salisbury was a seat of learning, with students of theology and the liberal arts taught at the College of the Valley Scholars, founded by Bishop Giles of Bridport in 1262.”

From the records: “Edward met Robert the Bruce and others at Salisbury in October 1289, which resulted in the Treaty of Salisbury, under which Margaret would be sent to Scotland before 1 November 1290 and any agreement on her future marriage would be delayed until she was in Scotland.”

From the records: “Evidence of quarrying into the 14th century shows some continued habitation, but the settlement was largely abandoned and Edward II ordered the castle's demolition in 1322.”

From the records: “The tower and spire were completed by 1330.”

From the records: “The Salisbury Cathedral clock, which dates from about AD 1386, is supposedly the oldest working modern clock in the world.”

From the records: “In the 15th century the Market Place had four crosses: the Poultry Cross, whose name describes its market; the 'cheese and milk cross', which indicated that market and was in the triangle between the HSBC bank and the Salisbury Library; a third cross near the site of the present war memorial, which marked a woollen and yarn market; and a fourth, called Barnwell or Barnard's Cross, in the Culver Street and Barnard Street area, which marked a cattle and livestock market.”

From the records: “An act of Parliament, the River Avon Navigation (Christchurch to New Sarum) Act 1664 (16 & 17 Cha. 2. c. 12) was passed on 2 March 1665 for making the River Avon navigable from Christchurch to the city of New Sarum, and the work completed, only for the project to be ruined shortly thereafter by a major flood.”

From the records: “In the 17th century, Christopher Wren designed restoration measures to strengthen the central pillars, which by then had visibly deformed under the weight of the tower and spire.”

From the records: “Salisbury was an important centre for music in the 18th century.”

From the records: “From the reign of Edward II in the 14th century, the borough of Old Sarum elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons despite having, from at least the 17th century, no resident voters.”

From the records: “Early motor cars were manufactured in the city from 1902 by Dean and Burden Brothers, using the Scout Motors brand.”

From the records: “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.”

From the records: “Following the destruction by the Luftwaffe of the Southampton factories building Supermarine Spitfires in 1940, production was dispersed to shadow factories elsewhere in the south of England.”

From the records: “Between 1864 and 1953 there were records of peregrine falcons being present at the cathedral.”

From the records: “From 16 January 2021, while closed to services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cathedral was used to accommodate the vaccination programme in the United Kingdom, a day after Lichfield Cathedral became the first place of worship to become part of the immunisation plan against the pandemic in England.”

From the records: “In 2023, the completion of a programme of external restoration begun in 1985 saw the removal of scaffolding that had stood around the building for some 37 years.”