Wiltshire

Towns & Villages

SALISBURY

Salisbury Cathedral - Photo: Peter Jordan CCL

This magnificent city grew up around the Roman hill fort of Old Sarum and boasts one of the finest medieval cathedrals in Britain - it has the highest spire at 404ft, one of only four copies of the 13th century Magna Carta and Europe's oldest working clock dating to 1386 AD.







The building was immortalised by John Constable in his famous 19th century painting ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’.

The cathedral close is one of the largest in England and within it is Mompesson House and its delightful gardens.


Owned by the National Trust, it featured in the movie ‘Sense and Sensibility’. Larmer Tree Gardens backs onto the Close.

Old Sarum - Photo: Chris Downer CCL

Old Wardour Castle - Photo: Toby CCL

Among many of the city’s highlights is the ruin of hexagonal Old Wardour Castle.

It nestles in a serene, lakeside location surrounded by acres of woodland. In 1643 it was the scene of a bloody siege by Cromwell’s army.

Wiltshire’s greatest prehistoric treasures such as Stonehenge are all within easy reach on the 300-square miles of chalk-based Salisbury Plain.