Salisbury City Defences

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Novae Sarum

In the civil parish of Salisbury. In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Scant traces of C13 Earthen defences of 'new' city of Salisbury. Turner says probably only a boundary ditch until late C14. Licence to crenellate granted 1328, 1372 and ratified in 1377, may have resulted in bank and palisade. Grant of timber to town in 1378. Ditch and fences broken down by evil doers in 1381. Salisbury's town defences comprised an Earthen rampart and ditch. The ditch was dug in 1310 and all the defences completed about 1388. The rampart extended from St Martin's Church to St Ann Street, along Rampart Road to Winchester Street, across the Greencroft to St Edmunds College and on to the River Avon at Castle Street. Entrances through the defences were present in Castle Street, Winchester Street and St Ann's Street, these were demolished in 1771 and 1784 (PastScape).
May 30. 1378. Grant to the mayor and commonalty of the city of New Sarum, on their petition to the king and Council for help to complete the trench round their city and wooden fence, of the profit of sealing cloth in that city for a year, and twenty oaks from the park of Claryndou or the forest of Bukholt or Grovele, wherever the justice of the forest shall deem least damage will arise by the same. (CPR (1377-1381) p229)
March 20. 1381. Commission to Robert Bealknap, Thomas Hungerford, John de la Mare, Thomas Dru, Nicholas Bonham and John Upton, to enquire touching a complaint by the mayor and commonalty of Salisbury, co. Wilts, that certain evildoers came to the city by night, set guards at divers places and entrances, so that they could not go out, broke a great portion of a trench that they had begun to make for the protection of the city, and assaulted them. (CPR (1377-1381) p631)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU14373036

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 218479
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is SU13SW489 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Books
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p18, 24, 37, 80-1, 90, 105, 129, 207, 218, 237, 256
    Cave-Penney, Helena, 2004, The Archaeology of Wiltshire’s Towns An Extensive Urban Survey Salisbury (Wiltshire County Archaeology Service) http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-906-1/dissemination/pdf/EUS_Texts/Salisbury.pdf
    Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p167, 168
    Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p503
    RCHME, 1980, ‘City defences’, in Ancient and Historical Monuments in the City of Salisbury Vol1 (HMSO) p50-51
    Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p66
    Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p198-9
    Rogers, J.H., 1969, 'Salisbury' in Lobel, M.D. (ed), Historic Towns: Maps and Plans of Towns and Cities in the British Isles, with Historical Commentaries, from Earliest Times to 1800' Vol1 (London: Lovell Johns-Cook, Hammond and Kell Organization) p1-9
    Crittal, Eliz. (ed), 1962, 'Salisbury: Bridges, bars, gates and mills' VCH Wiltshire Vol6 p87-90 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=41788
    Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p328, 417
• Journal Articles
  • 1961, Medieval Archaeology Vol5 p325-6 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    1947, Archaeological Journal Vol104 p9
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Jones, W. Rich (ed), 1891, Charters and Documents Illustrating the History of the Cathedral, City, and Diocese of Salisbury in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores (Rolls Series) Vol5 p97 (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1891). Reprint, Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1965. [City Charter]
    Calendar of Charter Rolls Vol4 p82;Calendar of Patent Rolls (1370-74) p220; (1377-81) p9, 10 [licence to crenellate]
    CPR (1377-1381) p229 [grant of timber and profits from wool sales for a year]
    CPR (1377-1381) p631 [commission to investigate breaking of defences.]
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities25.htm]
    William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/wilshireeng.html#wilts14]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p492-3, 498
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol1 p259 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl01