Old Sarum

Old Sarum sits on a dramatic hilltop near Salisbury, built around an Iron Age hillfort by William the Conqueror in 1069 as a motte-and-bailey fortress. For 150 years it served as a major centre of secular and ecclesiastical government, with Bishop Roger expanding it around 1100 and Henry VIII himself conducting ceremonies here. The castle's decline began after the bishopric relocated to Salisbury in 1219, though it remained administratively important until the Tudor period. Today, English Heritage preserves the mound and foundations as atmospheric ruins offering sweeping views across the Wiltshire countryside, testament to nearly a millennium of English history compressed into a single fortified hilltop.