Salisbury as seen from 100 years ago

A couple of nights ago I was in one of those hotels that has a pile of old books on a table next to the four-poster. I picked up the top volume “The National Encyclopædia Vol. XII Rom.-Spr.”, published I'm not sure when as there appears to be no date, but claiming to be “A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge by Writers of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art”, which makes a bit of a change from Wikipedia I suppose.

One interesting point of note is that these are the planets as listed in a wonderful fold-out colour plate at the beginning showing comparitive magnitudes: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Vesta, Juno, Ceres, Pallas, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

So we are pre-1930(?) when Pluto was discovered, and I assume the four listed between Mars and Jupiter must be major asteroids, long-since discounted as insignificant in any list of planets.

Anyway, that's all by-the-by, as what I wanted to tell you was how I opened the book completely randomly, and it fell open at the entry for Salisbury (page 96, if you care) and this is what it says (all punctuation etc maintained):

SALISBURY (or New Sarum), parliamentary and municipal borough, and market-town in Wiltshire, 83 miles W.S.W. from London by the Exeter branch of the South-western Railway, and 23 miles N.W. of Southampton. (The name of the town in pronounced Salz'bury.)

This city had its origins in the thirteenth century. This bishops and canons of the cathedral, which was then within the fortifications of Old Sarum [see SARUM], being exposed to injury from the captains of that fortress, with whom they were at feud, determined to remove their church to another site; and Richard Pauper or Poore, who held the see, having obtained an indulgence from the Pope, commenced a new church on the lands belonging to the see on the site of the present cathedral, in 1220. The inhabitants of Old Sarum, espousing the cause of their bishop and clergy, also removed, and thus the city of New Sarum, or Salisbury, rose into existence. A charter granted by Henry III., making it a free city, and giving to the inhabitants a fair and a market, contributed to its prosperity, and in the succeeding reigns several parliaments were held there. It was fortified by a wall and ditch; and the erection of a bridge over the Avon at Harnham brought the great western road (which had previously passed through Old Sarum) through this town in 1244. From its position it rapidly rose into commercial importance. In the Wars of the Barons and the Roses it was, however, a considerable sufferer. The Duke of Buckingham was beheaded in its market-place, in 1483, by order of Richard III. During the Civil War it was successively occupied by Ludlow, Doddington, Waller and Charles I. It was triumphantly entered by the Prince of Orange (William III.), on the 4th of December, 1688.

Salisbury is situated on the eastern bank of the river Avon, which is crossed by three stone bridges, and the principal part of it lies immediately to the north of the extensive Cathedral Close. It consists of several streets, regularly laid out at right angles to each other. Most of the houses are of brick, of comparitively modern erection, and several of them of handsome appearance. The town is well paved, and kept remarkably clean by means of water continually running down the principal streets. The drainage is good, and the city is one of the healthiest in England. South of the Avon, where it makes a bend to the east, is the suburban village of Harnham.

The cathedral is considered one of the most beautiful in England. It was begun in 1220, and finished in 1258. The architect was Elias de Derham, and among its benefactors were William Longespée, earl of Salisbury, and his countess, Ela. The spire was added in the reign of Edward III. The Close is entered by several ancient gates. The freedom of the cathedral from the encumbrance of contiguous buildings adds much to its imposing beauty; and further, it has the advantage of being built in one style, the Early English, and from a uniform plan. The tower and spire are of later date, but admirable accommodated to the style of the building, the extreme length of which is 449 feet; width of the great transept, 203 feet; height of the interior, 81 feet; and of the spire, 404 feet. It is in the form of a double cross, having two transepts, each of which has an aisle eastward, and the nave has a large north porch. There are spacious cloisters, a chapter-house, and a tower for a library and muniment room. The exterior of the cathedral was thoroughly restored between the years 1863 and 1870. The work included not merely superficial renewals, but the strengthening of the foundation throughout, so that everywhere the security as well as the appearance of the building as regarded. The chief work, however, was the strengthening of the matchless tower and spire, so as to insure its future safety. This was fully accomplished by means of an ingenious and elaborate system of iron ties, devised by Mr. Shields, the eminent civil engineer, whom Sir G. G. Scott (under whose superintendence the restorations were made) had called in to assist him in this delicate operation. The choir of the cathedral was restored in 1873-77 at a cost of about £15,000, as a memorial to the late Bishop Hamilton. The three parish churches of the old city are large; St. Edmund's and St. Thomas' are fine buildings in the Perpendicular style. The episcopal palace contains a feudal hall built in 1460.

The Roman Catholics have a handsome chapel, and there are places of worship for various denominations of dissenters. There is a grammar-school in connection with the cathedral, and another in the patronage of the corporation. The other public buildings are the council-house, town-hall, the infirmary, library and news-room, St. Nicholas hospital, founded earlier than the cathedral; and Hamilton Hall, erected in 1874 for the use of the literary and scientific institution and school of art. The Victoria Park was opened in 1887 and the County Hall erected in 1889. A statue to Henry Fawcett, M.P. was erected in 1887.

Since 1885 the borough has returned one member to Parliament. The population of the parliamentary borough – the limits of which were slightly extended by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 – is 17,362. The markets are held on Tuesday and Saturday, with large cattle fairs on alternate Tuesdays.

Having had a further flick through the book, which covers from Romford (“a busy and increasing town of England, in the county of Essex, with a large cattle market, a good corn exchange, a town-hall, two iron-foundries, and a celebrated brewery...”) to Spring'bok (“a species of antelope found in South Africa, and nearly allied to the gazelle”), I think the date of publication must be around the turn of the twentieth century, because there are dates late into the 1890s but none I can see after this.

I thought you might be interested.