Sarum, Old

SARUM, OLD, formerly a representative borough, in the parish of Stratford-under-the-Castle, union of Alderbury, hundred of Underditch, S. division of Wilts, 1½ mile (N.) from Salisbury; containing 7 inhabitants. This place was a British settlement of some importance prior to the time of the Romans, who, on their establishment in the island, fixed here their station Sorbiodunum, situated on the Via Iceniana, or Ikeneldstreet. By the Saxons, who under their leader Kenric, son of Cerdic, second king of Wessex, took the town from the Britons in 552, it was called Searesbyrig, from the dryness of its situation. It was a residence of the West Saxon kings till the union of the heptarchal provinces under Egbert, after which time it still continued to be a royal castle. Alfred issued an order to the sheriff of Wiltshire to strengthen the place with a trench and palisades; and the present remains of the fortifications are evidently of Saxon character. In 960, Edgar convoked here a wittenagemot, or great council of the state, the especial object of which was to deliberate upon the best mode of defending the northern counties against the incursions of the Danes, by whom that part of the kingdom was particularly infested. In 1003, Sweyn, King of Denmark, having landed on the western coast, to retaliate for the massacre of his countrymen in the reign of Ethelred, pillaged the town and burnt the castle. Soon after the Norman Conquest, pursuant to a decree of a synod held in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1076, for removing sees from obscure villages into fortified cities, the seat of the bishopric of Wiltshire was transferred by Bishop Herman to this place, where he laid the foundation of a cathedral, which was finished by his successor, Bishop Osmund, in 1092.

On the completion of the Norman survey, in 1086, William summoned all the bishops, abbots, barons, and knights of the kingdom, to attend him at Sarum, and do homage for the lands which they held by feudal tenure. In 1095, or 1096, William Rufus assembled a great council here, in which William, Count of Eu, was impeached of high treason against the king, in conspiring to raise Stephen, Earl of Albemarle, to the throne. Henry I. held his court at Sarum for several months during the year 1100, and here received Archbishop Anselm on his arrival in England, requiring that prelate to do homage and swear fealty to him, and to accept from his hands the investiture of his see. This demand gave rise to a dispute between the king and the pope, which was at length compromised, the pope allowing the prelates to do homage to the king, and reserving to himself the right of investiture, which was the first attempt to establish papal supremacy in the island. Henry I. again fixed his residence here in 1106, and in 1116 assembled the prelates and barons of the realm, to swear allegiance to his son as his successor on the English throne, previously to the prince's embarkation for Normandy, on his return from which country he was unfortunately drowned. In the reign of Stephen, Bishop Roger held the castle for the king; and soon after the instalment of that prelate's successor, Joceline, in 1142, the partisans of the Empress Matilda took possession of the town, which in the course of the contest was alternately occupied by both parties. On the accession of Henry II., in 1154, the castle was found to be in a dismantled state, and a considerable sum was expended in putting it into repair.

From the time of Stephen, disputes had arisen between the castellans and the clergy, which became so violent that, in the reign of Richard I., Bishop Herbert, induced by these annoyances, and other inconveniences attending the situation of his church, among which was the dependence on the governor for a supply of water, procured licence from the king to remove the see, and to erect a new church in the valley, at the distance of nearly two miles from the castle. This design was carried into execution by his successor, who, having received a special indulgence from the pope, laid the foundation of the present cathedral of Salisbury. From that period the town of Old Sarum began to decay, and was gradually deserted by its inhabitants, who established themselves in the vicinity of the new church. A few fragments of the foundation walls of some of the houses occupy the declivity of an eminence rising from the western side of a valley, and forming the extremity of a ridge which extends towards the east: the vast ditches and ramparts of the city, and the site of the castle, may still be traced, and form interesting objects of antiquarian research. There were houses remaining in the time of Henry VIII., and service was performed in the old chapel of the cathedral until nearly the same period; but the place is now deemed extra-parochial, and contains only one house. It was a borough by prescription, and first exercised the elective franchise in the 23rd of Edward I., but made no other return till the 34th of Edward III., from which time it continued to send two members to parliament until the 2nd of William IV., when it was disfranchised. John of Salisbury, one of the most eminent scholars of his time, and celebrated as an historian and biographer, was born at Old Sarum, in the early part of the twelfth century.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.