Salisbury

Salisbury is located in the southeast of Wiltshire near the edge of Salisbury Plain. Its cathedral was formerly located to the north at Old Sarum. Following its relocation, a settlement grew up around it, drawing residents from Old Sarum and Wilton. The new town received its city charter in 1227 under the name New Sarum, which continued to be its official name until 2009 when the Salisbury City Council was established. It sits at the confluence of five rivers. The Nadder, Ebble, Wylye, and Bourne are tributary to the Hampshire Avon, which flows to the south coast and into the sea at Christchurch in Dorset.

The Society visited Salisbury in 2007;  the old Infirmary is now an apartment block. We stayed at two hotels within walking distance of Salisbury Cathedral whose 404 foot spire – the tallest in England and mediaeval Europe – could be inspected from within. In the Chapter House was seen that great declaration of individual freedom, the Magna Carta of 1215. The scientific programme in the postgraduate centre of the modern low Salisbury District Hospital opened with a talk by the Trust’s Chief Executive Frank Harsent on training consultants, vigorously debated and followed by clinical presentations on limb reconstruction, childhood obesity and spinal injuries amongst much else. We then visited the Spinal Treatment Centre, which services England’s south-western quadrant. The final talk was on robots in medicine, before dinner at the exotic Larmer Tree, a landmark said to have once sheltered King John and his hounds.

 

Image above shows the Cathedral (Left) and the Poultry Cross (Right)