by Ancient Britain: Old Sarum
After visiting Salisbury on the first stop of a guided day tour to several ancient sites of Britain, we moved on to nearby Old Sarum. This hilltop is surrounded by banks and ditches with layers of 5,000 years of human settlement from the Neolithic to Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman until New Sarum (Salisbury) was established lower down the valley. It’s a fascinating and beautiful spot where I could sense the history and spirits of the ancient peoples within the stone walls and verdant slopes and the far views of the valley.
You may find this interesting additional reading: Old Sarum: A Layer-Cake of History.
My first encounter with Sarum was many years ago when I read Edward Rutherfurd’s Sarum, a vast work of historical fiction. I still remember my feelings of excitement over the early parts of the story covering the prehistoric period. Now I feel like I could reread it again with fresh new eyes.
Previous and later posts about our Ancient Britain Tour:
Salisbury
Wiltshire Flint
Stonehenge
White Horses
Silbury & West Kennet
Avebury
July 6, 2009 in Culture, History, Rock Art & Archaeology, Travel by Marja-Leena
Ah yes, I see the scaffolding now. I do love this view over the cathedral.
After being fed up with constantly encountering scaffolding round cathedrals, I suddenly started thinking about the kind of scaffolding the original masons would have had, and fully considering the building of the structure as well as admiring its beauty.
I am so pleased that you were able to take in Old Sarum as well as the other sites on this guided tour.
Olga, we were annoyed a great deal by scaffolding when in St.Petersburg in 2002 as they were doing a lot of restorations for a big celebration the following year. We couldn’t even get into one of the major churches. Ah well, without that, these places would not be standing today, right? Isn’t it quite amazing how they built these huge structures without the equipment like cranes we now have?
Oh, Marja-Leena! I’m afraid that if I had gone with you to this place, you would have had a time dragging me away at the end of the day. Magnificent!
Oh Rouchswalwe, I could have spent days at each of the places on this tour, especially to take lots of closeup photos and to be alone with the ghosts! And there were times I wished the van would stop and let me out to see something closer.
Looks like an amazing place. And a bit spooky! So ancient and so many lifetimes.
Leslee, yes it is amazing, though it didn’t feel spooky, at least on that sunny day, instead a strong feeling of time and history and the presence of different peoples.