Reblogged from Medieval Wanderings:

With my Low Castles warning light flickering again, this weekend meant seeking out some castle therapy.

Old Sarum is unique. Its ruins crown the summit of an Iron Age hillfort in the rolling Wiltshire countryside near Salisbury, and it proudly takes its place within this ancient landscape. It’s a medieval remnant, replete with echoes of its eventful past, and the impressive earthworks on which it stands can boast some 5000 years of history.

There’s evidence of this site as a place of reverence as long ago as 3000 BC, and it’s thought that the Celts constructed their impressive hillfort around 400 BC in a commanding position on a ridge separating the Rivers Avon and Bourne. Referred to in the Roman records as Sorviodunum, a military post was located nearby, and with an important road junction just outside the eastern gateway a small town grew up in the area. After the Romans left, the former Celtic fort became part of a Saxon royal estate, and it gave shelter to the people of nearby Wilton when the Vikings burned their town in 1003. So by the time the Normans arrived in 1066, Old Sarum had already clocked up an impressive past.

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