Old Sarum – English Heritage
Old Sarum
Old Sarum is located on a hilltop, two miles north of ‘new’ Sarum, today known as Salisbury. Over 4,000 years ago, the hilltop site served as site for neolithic burial henges (much smaller in magnitude than the Durrington Walls ‘superhenge‘, Stonehenge or Avebury). Later, an Iron Age hilltop fort was built at Old Sarum. The fort was subsequently occupied by the Romans (called Sorbiodunum or Sorviodunum in Roman times). The Saxons used Old Sarum as a stronghold against marauding Vikings. Even later, the Normans built a castle onthe site, three years after the Norman Conquest. The city appears as Sarisburia in the Domesday Book and it is probable that the Domesday book itself was written at Old Sarum.
In the early 12th century, Old Sarum was the most important town in South West England, often used a residence of Kings: King Henry I built a royal palace at the ancient city, which was late used by Plantagenet monarchs. The historic castle stood at Old Sarum until 1514 Henry VII ordered the castle to be demolished and the materials reused. Old Sarum Castle had fallen out of favour by Tudor monarch’s reign. Today, there is little hint, at Old Sarum, of its importance in nation’s history. How did Old Sarum fall from grace so precipitously and why was the city abandoned in 1219? Could politics have played a role?
With the cathedral and castle in such close proximity on the hilltop at Old Sarum, there were regular conflicts between the chiefs of the castle and cathedral. In 1219, when Bishop Poor’s men were held out of the hill-fort, he formally requested that his Cathedral be relocated. In that same year, Salisbury Cathedral was consecrated on the banks on the River Avon, just south of Old Sarum, and so the demise of Old Sarum began. In 1217, Old Sarum residents moved home to Salisbury and the city was deserted.
Today the Old Sarum site is managed by English Heritage. The ruins of the Iron Age Hill-fort, the Royal Castle and the foundations of Salisbury’s first Cathedral can all be accessed by the public at Old Sarum. From Old Sarum, there are great views down to Salisbury and the modern cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral is home to one of four remaining copies of the Magna Carta and Salisbury is just eight miles from Stonehenge. The post capture shows the view towards the north of Old Sarum, out to Salisbury Plain. The image was capture using a ‘superresolution’ technique, which aims to achieve very high resolution images, like those generated by the Hasselblad H5D-200c. The technique us described in Ian Norman’s Practical Guide to Creating Superresolution Photos.
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