DIANE Goetz gave a talk on Old and New Sarum.

The site of Old Sarum was chosen in the Iron Age for its elevation and access to water from the River Avon, and it was occupied by the Romans and Anglo Saxons. William the Conqueror built a castle there and appointed Bishop Herman to build a cathedral, which was completed by Bishop Osmund.

The tower soon blew down, to be rebuilt and extended by Bishop Roger. Old Sarum was a royal garrison and made life difficult for the clergy. Eventually Bishop Richard Poor asked the King and the Pope for permission to build another cathedral.

His first choice had been Wilton but the nunnery objected and so he settled for the present site.

The cathedral took 38 years to build and is the tallest medieval spire in the world.

Salisbury’s first church, St Thomas’s, has a Doom Painting, of which there are few in the world. New Sarum was laid out on a grid system of ‘chequers’, each one named after an inn or important citizen.

Each chequer had a channel of water running down the centre to provide water for all.

In Victorian times when cholera was finally associated with dirty water they were filled in. During the work many artefacts were discovered and are now displayed as the Drainage Collection in Salisbury Museum.