Salisbury Cathedral Sarum Short Breaks & Cheap Holidays Direct UK<< >> The medieval Cathedral Salisbury Sarum dominates the ‘city in the countryside', a magnificent medieval city of historic streets, alleyways and beautiful half-timbered buildings.
The origins of Sarum the city go back to the Iron Age, and the Romans called it "Sorviodunum".
The Normans built a castle and called it Searesbyrig or Seresberi. This site is now known as Old Sarum and can be visited.
It was known as Salesberie in the famous Domesday Book which was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. The first draft was completed in August 1086 and contained records for 13,418 settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time). One of the first known uses of the name Sarum is on the seal of Saint Nicholas Hospital in 1239. The first Bishop to describe himself as ‘episcopus Sarum’ was Bishop Wyville (1330 - 1375).
The history of the Sarum area is prehistoric as can be seen in the world-renowned monument of ‘Stonehenge’, which is nearby. For more that seven hundred and fifty years pilgrims and workers have flocked to Salisbury drawn by the cathedral.
The largest medieval close in Britain, Cathedral Close is a wonderful typical English setting and anyone looking for UK holidays direct will discover Mompesson House or ‘The House in The Close’. This house built in 1701 featured as Mrs Jennings’ London home in the award-winning film ‘Sense and Sensibility’. It has an elegant and spacious interior, with beautiful plasterwork and a fine oak staircase. There is also a wonderful walled garden with a garden tearoom for that terrific english cup of tea.
It is always Britain's tallest church spire that draws the eye with it’s beauty and scale. Built over one century with no substantial later additions this medieval building is itself remarkable and a testimony to the faith and practical skills of those who erected it on a Salisbury shallow gravel bed. The impressive cathedral interior holds the original and the best preserved of the four remaining original manuscripts of the Magna Carta. This can be viewed in the Chapter House.
Magna Carta is Latin for "Great Charter" and is one of the most celebrated documents not only in English history but in the world. The solution to a political crisis in Medieval England it has become recognised as a cornerstone of liberty influencing a great deal of the civilized world.
In the main building you can see Europe's and possibly the world’s oldest working clock, which is a large iron-framed astronomical clock without a dial. The framework is not held together with nuts and bolts (which had not been invented), but with metal dowels and pegs. The wheels and gears are mounted in an open box-like iron frame about 1.2m square. Its main purpose was to strike a bell at precise on the hour times. It dates from around thirteen eighty six and most of the parts are original. In the 18th century, the bell tower which housed the clock was demolished, so the clock was moved to the Cathedral's central tower. In 1884, a new clock was installed and the old one was forgotten. The clock 'an unkempt pile of junk' was re-discovered in the tower in 1929 by a maintenance crew. Then, in 1956, the clock was restored to its original condition, started working again and was put on display.
You can do a guided tour up inside the spire, walking through the medieval scaffold timbers and listening to the bells. You will be amazed and the skill and craftmanship that went into this part of the building. You climb over three hundred and thirty steps in easy stages by means of various narrow winding spiral staircases and different walkways so you’ll need a good pair of shoes. But the view over Sarum Salisbury will be worth it. The city makes a great base for cheap short breaks for UK direct holidays. << |
