Old Sarum - Early History

Early History

Archaeological remains of rough stone tools suggest people have occupied the hilltop area of Old Sarum since Neolithic times (around 3000 BC). There is evidence that early hunters and, later, farming communities occupied the site. A protective hill fort was constructed by the local inhabitants during the British Iron Age (around 500 BC) by creating enormous banks and ditches surrounding the hill. Numerous other hillforts of the same period can be found locally, including Figsbury Ring to the east and Vespasian's Camp to the north. The archaeologist Sir R.C. Hoare described it as "a city of high note in the remotest periods by the several barrows near it, and its proximity to the two largest stone circles in England, namely, Stonehenge and Avebury."

In the Roman occupation of Britain between AD 43 and AD 410 the site was a military station, strategically placed near the convergence of five important roads. The hill fort was marked on Roman roadmaps by the name of Sorviodunum. The name is believed to be derived from the Celtic language name for 'the fortress by a gentle river'. In the Chronicle of the Britons, the place is referred to as Caer Gradawc.

Cynric, King of Wessex, captured the hill in 552. The Anglo-Saxons called it Searobyrig and under them it ranked among the most considerable towns of the West Kingdom, gaining ecclesiastical establishments soon after the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity. In the early part of the ninth century, it was a frequent residence of Egbert of Wessex, and, in 960, King Edgar assembled a national council there to plan a defence against the Danes in the north.