Discover Salisbury, Wiltshire

Salisbury Cathedral: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salisbury_Cathedral.jpg
Author: Andrew Dunn


Salisbury, a cathedral city, is the second largest settlement and only city in Wiltshire, England, to the southwest of London. It has a population of 40,000 people.

Salisbury is located on the edge of the Salisbury Plain, at the confluence of five rivers namely the Nadder, Ebble, Wylye and Bourne, all of which enter the River Avon. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Evidence of a Neolithic settlement has been found on the hilltop at Old Sarum, a neighborhood on the northern part of Salisbury.

Salisbury itself dates back to the founding of its cathedral by St Bishop Osmund between 1075 and 1092. Originally established in Old Sarum, the village relocated to New Sarum in 1220, and that site becomes present-day Salisbury. According to legend, the site of Salisbury was selected by shooting an arrow from Old Sarum. It hit a deer, which died on the spot where the Salisbury Cathedral was erected.

Archway into Cathedral Close in Salisbury: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archway_into_Cathedral_Close_-_geograph.org.uk_-_215287.jpg
Author: Christian Jones
Salisbury Cathedral is today custodian of the best-preserved of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta. It also has the oldest surviving mechanical clock in Britain, installed in the cathedral in 1386. The cathedral has the tallest church spire in Britain, at 123 m (404 ft), the largest cathedral close in Britain (80 acres/320,000 sq mi), and the largest cloister.

The city of Salisbury was laid out in a grid pattern. It was a fortified town with a defensive wall. There were four city gates, with a fifth one added in the 19th century. Today the city is a domestic tourist destination. It hosts a market on Tuesdays and Saturdays when visitors can enjoy viewing and buying local goods.

Visiting Salisbury

There are trains from London to Salisbury on the line to Exeter. The budget Megatrain from London Waterloo Station to Salisbury can cost as little as just £1.00. There are also train services from Cardiff, Portsmouth, Bristol, Bath, Romsey and Southampton.

If you are driving from London, take the M3 motorway until Exit 8, then continue on the A303 road to Salisbury.

The Wardrobe (Museum of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment), Cathedral Close, Salisbury Salisbury: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wardrobe,_Salisbury.jpg
Author: Andrew Dunn

Places of Interest in Salisbury

Salisbury is on the Map of cities in England

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.