Old Sarum, Wiltshire Family History Guide
Old Sarum is an extra-parochial place.
Alternative names: Old Castle
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers:
- Bishop’s Transcripts:
Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
SARUM (Old), a quondam city and an extra-parochial tract in Alderbury district, Wilts.
The city stood on a lofty eminence, on the S border of Salisbury plain, nearly midway between the rivers Avon and Bourn, and on Icknield-street, at a convergence of Roman roads from Winchester, Silchester, Speen, the Severn, and Dorchester, 2 miles N of Salisbury.
It occupied the site of the Roman station Sorbiodunum; was known to the Saxons as Searebyrig or Sarisbyrig, signifying “the dry town;” was taken from the Britons, in 552, by the Saxon king Cynric or Kenric; is supposed to have been re-fortified, with addition of outer entrenchment in 871, by Alfred; was the meeting-place of a wittenagemot of Edgar, in 960, to concert a defence of England against the Danes.
It became the seat of a diocese in 1072, by removal to it of the see of Sherborne or Wilton; was the meeting-place of a great council in 1086, convoked by the Conqueror to establish the feudal system; had its cathedral completed and formally opened in 1092; was the meeting-place of a council of William Rufus in 1096.
It was visited by Henry I. in 1100, 1106, and 1116; was taken and damaged by the Empress Maud, in her wars with Stephen; was partly restored, and had a castle rebuilt, by Henry II.; began to decline at the removal of its see to Salisbury in 1220; continued, nevertheless, to be a resort of kings and a place of national councils down to the 15th century; sank afterwards into such desolation as not to have one inhabited house.
It sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward I., and continued to send them till disfranchised by the reform act of 1832; is now represented by only remains of ditches and ramparts, enclosing an area of about 27½ acres; had suburbs extending beyond these limits a considerable way down the hill; presents now a dreary surface, partly under the plough, partly in a state of waste; and commands a very fine view over Salisbury plain and along the valley of the neighbouring rivers.
The extra-parochial tract includes the quondam city, and bears the alternative name of Old Castle; but, in 1861, had only one house.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
See Also Salisbury Wiltshire Family History Guide
Coombs Henry, Sarum, Wiltshire, money scrivener, April 22, 1834.
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
| Details | Place of Marriage |
|---|---|
| John Wheataker & Diones Aldridge, at Sarum 27 July 1618 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| William Hevell & Edith Skinner, at Sarum 8 Feb. 1620/1 | Bratton Wiltshire |
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Wiltshire
- Civil Registration District: Alderbury
- Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Salisbury (Episcopal Consistory)
- Diocese: Not Applicable
- Rural Deanery: Not Applicable
- Poor Law Union: Alderbury
- Hundred: Underditch
- Province: Canterbury