The Excavation of the Site of Old Sarum. 333 



The following article by Mr. W. St. John Hope, which appeared 

 in The Times of November 17th, gives an account of the results of 

 the work so far as it has at present gone, and is here reprinted 

 with the consent of the writer : — 



About If mile due north of the city of Salisbury stands the im- 

 posing ancient monument known as Old Sarum. Apart from its 

 historical associations, Old Sarum is chiefly remarkable for the 

 vast scale of the earthworks of which it consists. The outer 

 earthwork is an irregular oval of considerable area, defended by 

 a deep and steep-sided ditch, the contents of which have been 

 thrown up along both scarps to form a continuous bank, in- 

 terrupted only by the entrances on the east and west. The earth- 

 work is only partly artificial, as may be seen by an interesting 

 section in a disused chalk pit on the north side. The inner bank 

 was at one time crested by a massive wall, but only a fragment of 

 this remains. In the middle of the area is a smaller and loftier 

 earthwork, probably of Norman date, consisting of a deep ditch 

 with steep sides, the material from which has been thrown inwards 

 to form a high bank, enclosing a nearly circular area of no great 

 size. Within this stood the Norman castle. From the castle 

 area two transverse ditches are carried across the main enclosure 

 to the outer bank, dividing it into two baileys. 



Historical Eetrospect. 



Of the beginnings of Old Sarum nothing is known. There are 

 reasons for identifying it with the Boman station of Sorbiodunum 

 of the twelfth and fifteenth Antonine Itineraries, but the main 

 earthwork is clearly pre-Eoman, and possibly of the early Iron 

 Age, if not older. 



Old Sarum was evidently a place of some note in Saxon times, 



coins of Cnut and Edward the Confessor being known which are 



believed to have been struck there. The description of " Saris- 



! berie " in the Domesday Survey does not seem to include the 



'< earthwork, probably because it was then in the King's hands. It 



must, however, have continued to be inhabited, since the seat of 



