English Heritage

Old Sarum is one of the most historically important sites in southern England. You can walk right round its mighty prehistoric outer ramparts, raised by Iron Age people in about 400 BC.

At the centre, you’ll find the huge Norman inner mound and ditch, founded by William the Conqueror. Climbing onto the mound, you can trace the ruins of the Norman royal castle. Around it, a bustling new city sprang up.

But the city’s glory days were numbered. Soldiers and priests quarreled, and the settlement migrated downhill to Salisbury, where a new cathedral was founded in 1220. By Tudor times there wasn’t a single inhabited house left on the hilltop.