Old Sarum City Defences (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Salisbury.
In the historic county of Wiltshire.
Modern Authority of Wiltshire.
1974 county of Wiltshire.
Medieval County of Wiltshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU138327
Latitude 51.09284° Longitude -1.80647°

Old Sarum City Defences has been described as a certain Urban Defence.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A Saxon burh situated on the site of the Iron Age hillfort at Old Sarum. Documentary sources refer to the burh being refortified during the 9th century but this has not yet been established in an archaeological context. As yet, there has been little archaeological evidence of a settlement within the defences except the finds of coins of Athelstan and Edgar. There is documentary references to a church established within the burh by the end of the Saxon period. The burh was used as an 'emergency burh' (Haslem 1984) during the early 11th century because of conflicts with the Danes. This may have resulted in the reconstruction of the defences. Archaeological excavations have identified several post-Roman defensive phases, but these could not be identified with this event due to the lack of dating evidence. Conflicts with the Danes may have been the reason for the move of moneyers from Wilton to Old Sarum in 1003 AD. A mint was in operation by 1004 AD. The continued presence of the moneyers at Old Sarum during the 11th century suggests some of the royal administrative functions centred at Wilton had been transferred here. Haslem states that any supporting settlement would have been small, situated within the defences. By the 1086 AD Domesday survey, the area of the hillfort and burh were under royal and ecclesicastical ownership leading to the building of the cathedral and castle. Settlement dating from the late 11th century has been identified from excavations outside the east gate of the defences. This settlement developed as a direct result of construction of the castle and cathedral and subsequently declined from the early 13th century due to the development of New Sarum. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1015675, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 26715
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 660752.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) SU13SW201.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage
  Wikipedia entry
  Vortigern Studies British History 400-600
  York Digital Library - Philip Rahtz's photographs
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 126-7
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 80, 90, 256
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 97
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Haslam, J., 1984, 'The Towns of Wiltshire' in J. Haslam (ed.) Anglo-Saxon Towns in southern England (Phillimore) p. 87-147 esp. 122-29 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 503
  RCHME, 1977, 'Old Sarum' in Ancient and Historical Monuments in the City of Salisbury Vol. 1 (HMSO) p. 1-15, 173-4 online transcription
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Crittal, Eliz. (ed), 1962, 'Old Salisbury: The borough' VCH Wiltshire Vol. 6 p. 62-3 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Stroud, D., 1986, 'The site of the borough at Old Sarum 1066–1226: an examination of some documentary evidence' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 80 p. 120–6 online copy
Guidebooks
- Renn, Derek, 1994, Old Sarum Wiltshire (London: English Heritage)
  Shortt, H de S., 1988, Old Sarum Wiltshire (London: English Heritage)
  Shortt, H de S., 1965, Old Sarum Wiltshire (HMSO)
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 494
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 260-1 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Wiltshire Council, 2009, Extensive Urban Survey - Wiltshire (Wiltshire Council, English Heritage) Download copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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