The cathedral city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, formerly called New Sarum, is situated at the confluence of the Rivers Avon, Bourne, and Nadder, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Bath and 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Southampton.

Salisbury was north of the city at Old Sarum, which housed the Old Sarum Cathedral from just after the Norman of 1066 until 1220.

In its heyday, Old Sarum combined both a royal castle and a cathedral inside of a fortification for 150 years, making it a centre of the secular as well as the ecclesiastical government. The cathedral was moved to Salisbury in 1226, leaving the castle to act as the administrative centre well into the 14th century.

In 1450, as the economy in Salisbury slid into decline, several riots broke out in Salisbury. These riots took place at just about the time as the famed Jack Cade’s Rebellion. An outright rebellion against King Richard III took place in 1483. This rebellion is known as Buckingham’s Rebellion.

In 1665, as the Great Plague of London took hold of London, King Charles II scooped up his family and fled to Salisbury.

In November or 1688, James II chose to assemble his military forces, which numbered about 19,000, in Salisbury, preparing for for what would be a short-lived resistance of the Glorious Revolution.

In 1940, during the Battle of Britain, the factories which produced Supermarine Spitfires in Southhampton was bombed repeatedly and finally destroyed. At least 92 people were killed during the extended raid. The government requisitioned, among other things, Anna Valley Motors in Salisbury to be the replacement and sole producer of the fuel tanks for photo-reconnaissance Spitfire along with other components.

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