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England Wiltshire  Salisbury

Guide to Salisbury history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
The correct name for the city is SARUM, either old Sarum for the historic city, or New Sarum that was the city's official name until 2005. The Roman name Sorviodunum was a Latinized form of the Celtic name as well.

Salisbury is located about 90 miles almost due west of London, in a shallow valley. The geology of the area, like much of South Wiltshire and Hampshire, is largely chalk.

It is located on the same plain, and close to, Stonehenge and Avebury, two world famous ancient henges or stone circles in the area. While Stonehenge is the most famous, Avebury is by far the largest, and is a set of two concentric stone rings.

The hilltop at Old Sarum lies near the Neolithic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and shows some signs of early settlement. It commanded a salient between the River Bourne and the Hampshire Avon near a crossroads of several early trade routes. During the Iron Age, a hill fort (oppidum) was constructed around it sometime between 600 and 300 BC.

Preferring settlements in bottom lands like nearby Wilton, the Saxons largely ignored Old Sarum until the Viking invasions led King Alfred to restore its fortifications.

Following the Norman invasion, a motte-and-bailey castle was constructed by 1070. The castle was held directly by the Norman kings; its castellan was generally also the sheriff of Wiltshire.

Osmund, a relative of William the Conqueror, was responsible for the codification of the "Sarum Rite", as well as the work that resulted in the Domesday book, which was probably presented to William at Old Sarum.

In 1075, the Council of London established Herman as the first bishop of Salisbury, uniting his former sees of Sherborne and Ramsbury into a single diocese which covered the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, and Berkshire. (He had earlier planned to move his seat to Malmesbury but was blocked by its monks and Earl Godwin. Hermann and his successor Saint Osmund began the construction of the first Salisbury cathedral but neither lived to see its completion in 1092.

The original cathedral was consecrated on 5 April 1092 but suffered extensive damage in a storm, traditionally said to have occurred only five days later. Bishop Roger refurbished and expanded Old Sarum's cathedral in the 1110s.

The present Cathedral building in New Sarum—the present Salisbury Cathedral—began in 1221. The site was supposedly established by shooting an arrow from Old Sarum, although this is certainly a legend: the distance is over 3 km (1.9 mi). The main body was completed in only 38 years. (The 123 m or 404 ft tall spire, the tallest in the UK, was built later.) This cathedral is considered one of the most beautiful in all of Europe. New Sarum was made a city by a charter from King Henry III in 1227 and, by the 14th century, was the largest settlement in Wiltshire.

In the 12th., 13th., and 14th. centuries, through to the early 15th. century, Salisbury was a major center of the woolen industry. However in about 1450 a number of riots broke out in Salisbury probably due to its declining fortunes in the cloth industry.

Salisbury was the site chosen to assemble James II's forces to resist the Glorious Revolution in the late 1600's. James II failed in this attempt, and Salisbury became, thereafter, only a major market town for the Wiltshire region.

Salisbury Cathedral also holds one of 5 copies extant of the original MAGNA CARTA. It is located within the cathedral.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Salisbury has several cemeteries and crematoria. One is now closed. The addresses are listed below:

Devices Road Cemetery:


 * Devizes Road
 * Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 7ND

At the present time there are no new interments in this cemetery.

London Road Cemetery


 * London Road
 * Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3JB

The Salisbury City Council website for cemeteries and crematoria follows:


 * Salisbury City Council website

Further links to information on cemeteries for Salisbury follow:


 * Wiltshire County Council


 * Devices Road cemetery


 * London Road cemetery

Parishes
Salisbury has its own cathedral, one of the most famous in the UK, and its own Diocese. This website provides links for all parishes in the Diocese. The website follows:


 * Salisbury Anglican Diocese

Non Conformists
The Milton Keynes area has a large Roman Catholic population, part of the Northampton Diocese. The following web site provides further information:


 * The Northampton RC Diocese

Other Christian and non-christian groups follow:


 * Baptist
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Grace Church
 * Jehovah's Witness
 * Methodist
 * New City Church
 * New Life Church
 * Presbyterian
 * Seventh Day Adventist

Non Christian groups that meet regularly in Milton Keynes include:


 * Buddhist
 * Hindu
 * Jewish
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. Salisbury City does not appear to have its own BMD source. The following links provide access for Salisbury:


 * UK BMD for Wiltshire


 * BMD certificates UK ]

Local Histories

 * A Sarum Chronicle


 * A Salisbury past by Ruth Newman and Jane Howells


 * Salisbury Through Time by Carol Dixon-Smith and Catherine Essenhigh

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Michelin map of Milton Keynes


 * oldmapsonline; Milton Keynes


 * Vision of Britain; Milton Keynes

Newspapers

 * The Salisbury Journal


 * The Salisbury Post

Occupations
As a new city, Milton Keynes has never had a base for industrial development. It is, to a great extent, a "bed room city" for the London Megalopolis.

Given that however, Milton Keynes has consistently benefited from above-average economic growth. Outside of London it is ranked as one of the most attractive places for business along with Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester.

One of the original villages that now make up Milton Keynes is Bletchley. Bletchley Park was home to the Government Code and Cypher School during the Second World War. The famous Enigma code was cracked here, and the building housed what was arguably the world's first programmable computer, Colossus. The house is now a museum of war memorabilia, cryptography and computing. Bletchley Park is still the base for a large part of the UK's cryptography operations.

Milton Keynes is home to several national and international companies, including the UK headquarters of Argos, Domino's Pizza, Marshall Amplification, Mercedes-Benz, Suzuki, Volkswagen AG, Red Bull Racing, Network Rail and Yamaha Kemble.

Societies

 * Wiltshire Family History Society


 * genuki, Wiltshire


 * Findmypast Wiltshire


 * Salisbury FHS lectures


 * Salisbury History Society

Archives

 * Wiltshire Archives


 * National Archives; Salisbury


 * Salisbury Cathedral Archives


 * genuki Wiltshire Archives

Web Sites

 * Keynes wikipedia; Milton Keynes


 * Milton Keynes Council