About
Old Sarum is one of the most historically layered sites in England, its great chalk hill rising dramatically from the Wiltshire plain two miles north of Salisbury to command views that have made it strategically important for five millennia. From the Bronze Age to the eighteenth century, this remarkable hilltop has served in turn as an Iron Age hillfort, a Roman administrative town, an Anglo-Saxon stronghold, a Norman city complete with cathedral and royal castle, and finally — in its most absurd incarnation — England's most notorious rotten borough, returning two Members of Parliament from a site on which not a single person resided.
The earliest significant occupation dates to the Iron Age, when massive earthworks were thrown up around the hilltop, creating one of the most formidable hillforts in southern England. The Romans recognised the site's strategic importance and established Sorviodunum here, a town that served as a junction of five major Roman roads. After the Roman withdrawal, the Saxons fortified the site, known in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Searobyrig, and it features in records of the Danish invasions and Alfred the Great's fortification programme.
The Norman Conquest transformed Old Sarum dramatically. William the Conqueror ordered his victorious army to disband here in 1070, and the site was developed into a major fortified city with a royal castle at its centre and a cathedral in the outer ward. The original Norman cathedral, consecrated in 1092, was demolished after only five days following a violent storm, rebuilt, and then ultimately abandoned when the new cathedral was begun at the present site of Salisbury in 1220. The reasons for the move were practical as much as theological: water was scarce on the windswept hill, the military and ecclesiastical authorities were in perpetual conflict, and the clergy found the wind 'piercing and perilous'.
By the eighteenth century, Old Sarum had shrunk to a ghost of its former self, yet under the corrupt electoral arrangements that preceded the Great Reform Act of 1832, the abandoned hilltop returned two Members of Parliament while great industrial cities like Manchester and Leeds had none. William Pitt the Elder held one of its two parliamentary seats. The Reform Act abolished Old Sarum as one of its first acts, making it a byword for the worst abuses of the unreformed electoral system. Today English Heritage maintains the site, where visitors can walk the Iron Age earthworks, view the cathedral foundations, and enjoy some of the finest panoramic views in Wiltshire.
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Plan Your Visit
📅 Best Times to Visit
💡 Visitor Tips
- Visit on a clear day for the best views — on good days you can see Salisbury Cathedral spire, the New Forest, and much of the chalk downland of Wiltshire
- Wear sturdy shoes or walking boots — the approach to the summit is steep and on grass which can be slippery after rain
- Bring a picnic — there is no café on site but the hilltop provides exceptional views and a wonderful setting for a relaxed outdoor lunch
- Visit Salisbury Museum after Old Sarum to see artefacts recovered from the site; the two complement each other perfectly and both can be done in a half-day
- Old Sarum combines brilliantly with a visit to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral for a full-day Wiltshire heritage itinerary
- English Heritage members enter free — at under £10 per adult this site offers excellent value even for non-members; the panoramic views alone justify the entry price
- The site is at its most atmospheric in early morning or late afternoon light; winter visits on clear days offer dramatic low-angle illumination on the earthworks
Highlights
The Iron Age Hillfort — Five Millennia of Earthworks
The great concentric earthwork ramparts that ring Old Sarum's summit were thrown up during the Iron Age — probably around 400–500 BC — creating one of the most substantial hillforts in the chalk downlands of southern England. The outer bank and ditch, still clearly visible and impressive in scale, enclosed an area of around 56 acres, large enough to accommodate a significant community in times of conflict.
Though the original Iron Age structures were entirely of timber and have long since disappeared, the earthworks themselves represent one of the finest examples of prehistoric defensive engineering in Wiltshire.
Walking the outer ramparts today gives visitors a visceral sense of the strategic mastery that drew occupants back to this hill across fifty centuries of continuous human use.
Roman Sorviodunum — Crossroads of Britain
The Romans understood the hilltop's value immediately, establishing Sorviodunum as a significant town at the junction of five major Roman roads including the Portway, Ackling Dyke, and several other military and commercial arteries. Archaeological excavations have revealed evidence of substantial Roman occupation: a forum, temples, domestic structures, and the infrastructure of a thriving provincial town.
The site's position at the convergence of so many roads made it a centre of administration, trade, and military movement for the four centuries of Roman rule in Britain.
While little of the Roman town is visible above ground today, the street grid and some structural remains can be traced through the grass, and finds recovered over centuries of investigation include coins, ceramics, metalwork, and building materials now distributed among regional museum collections.
The Norman Cathedral — Lost City of Salisbury
When the Normans established their new fortress city at Old Sarum after 1066, they built on an ambitious scale. Bishop Osmund began a new cathedral on the site in the 1070s and 1080s, consecrating it in 1092 only for a violent storm five days later to damage it so severely it required complete rebuilding.
The rebuilt cathedral was one of the finest Romanesque churches in England, and the foundations uncovered during excavations in the nineteenth century revealed a substantial and sophisticated structure with complex architectural ambitions.
In 1220, the decision was taken to move the cathedral to a new site in the valley below, and the Norman building was systematically demolished to provide materials for the new Salisbury Cathedral. The excavated foundations, clearly visible in the grass, constitute an extraordinary archaeological monument.
The Royal Castle and Norman Palace
At the centre of the outer Iron Age earthworks, the Normans constructed an inner motte and bailey castle that served as a royal residence and administrative centre. The inner bailey, raised on a steep motte, contained the royal hall and domestic buildings while the outer ward housed the cathedral and its close.
The arrangement of inner castle and outer cathedral city — two powers in perpetual friction in a confined windswept hilltop — created the tensions that ultimately drove the cathedral chapter to seek a new site.
The remains of the inner bailey and its ditches are visible today, and archaeological investigation has traced the ground plans of the royal hall, great tower, and ancillary buildings that made Old Sarum a significant royal stronghold from the Conquest to the early medieval period.
Collections
Old Sarum's primary heritage asset is the landscape itself — the Iron Age earthworks, excavated cathedral foundations, castle remains, and panoramic setting constitute an open-air museum of five millennia of human activity. Portable finds recovered from the site are distributed among several collections: the Salisbury Museum holds the most significant assemblage including Roman artefacts, medieval decorated tiles, and Norman architectural fragments.
English Heritage's on-site interpretation draws on these collections through photography and illustration.
The site's archaeological archive, maintained under English Heritage custodianship, continues to inform research into one of the most complexly stratified monuments in Wiltshire.
Five Thousand Years on a Hill
Illustrated interpretation panels placed throughout the site trace Old Sarum's five-period history from Bronze Age occupation through Iron Age hillfort, Roman town, Norman cathedral city, and parliamentary borough; includes artist's reconstructions of each major period
📍 Site entrance and interpretation panels
The Rotten Borough
Exhibition exploring Old Sarum's notorious electoral history, the nature of the unreformed parliamentary system, and the significance of the Great Reform Act of 1832 in abolishing one of England's most extreme examples of political corruption
📍 Site entrance panels
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.