You have arrived at the salisburyandstonehenge.net website, a local history website about Salisbury and Stonehenge.

This is a new, possibly improved, version of the website, which has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of the old version. I'm slowly getting the material from the old site back online...but it's going to take some time.

The main components of the site will be:

• what happened on this date in the history of Salisbury and Stonehenge - a calendar of what happened on this day in our local history


• the origins of Salisbury road names

This is the calendar:

• Elvis Presley visits Salisbury (this is a test)


• 1st January 1457 - Saint Osmund, Salisbury's patron saint, is canonized


• 3rd January 1797 - a Stonehenge trilithon falls


• 5th January 1818 - Prince Leopold, future king of Belgium visits Salisbury


• 6th January 2011 - Sam Christer's 'Stonehenge Legacy' published


• 6th January - Little Christmas


• 6th January 1915 - Salisbury Cathedral is flooded


• 7th January 1941 - birthday of Iona Brown OBE, violinist


• 7th January 1217 - death of Bishop Poore


• 7th January 2012 - Salisbury play Sheffied United in 3rd Round of FA Cup


• 28th January 1897 - MOD buys 40,000 acres of Salisbury Plain


• 9th January 1728 - Thomas Warton, 'Written at Stonehenge' writer was born


• 10th January 1833 - first gas lights in Salisbury turned on


• 10th January 1226 - William Longspee returns to Salisbury


• 10th January 1941 - Dr John Gordon arrives in UK to set up Harvard Hospital


• 11th January 2001 - English Heritage declares Stonehenge 'is not a fake'


• 12th January 1895 - the National Trust is founded


• 14th January 1863 - Prince Louis of Hesse visits Stonehenge


• 14th January 1904 - Cecil Beaton is born


• 14th January 2002 - UK declared free of foot-and-mouth


• 15th January 1820 - John Constable sketches Stonehenge


• 17th January 1885 - bomb explodes at Warminster Town Hall


• 18th January 2010 - 10 objects tell a history of Wiltshire and the world


• 18th January 1965 - Millie stars in Pantomime at the Odeon


• 19th January 1942 - Michael Crawford born in Salisbury


• 22nd January 1861- birth of poet Maurice Hewlett


• 23rd January 1892 - Arabella Roberts dies. Clock tower built in her memory


• 25th January 1858 - installation of Russian cannon in Salisbury Market Place


• 25th January 1842 - celebrations in Salisbury for the christening of Edward VII


• 25th January 1950 - Phil Harding's birthday


• 26th January 1969 - Laverstock gets a panda


• 26th January 1993 - Ewan MacGregor is in 'What the Butler Saw' at Salisbury Playhouse


• 27th January 1847 - the first Salisbury Railway station opens


• 29th January 1993 - Odstock Hospital becomes Salisbury District Hospital


• 29th January 2013 - Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journey passes through Salisbury


• 29th January 1728 - premier of the Beggars Opera


• 29th January 1853 - celebrations for opening of Saint Paul's


• 30th January 1227 - Henry III signs Salisbury Charter


• 30th January 2003 - the 'Millennium Stone' is installed at National Botanic Gardens of Wales


• 31st January 2010 - John Glen wins Salisbury Conservatives' Open Primary


• 7th February 1812 - birth of Charles Dickens


• 1st February 1971 - prog-rockers Uriah Heep release 'Salisbury'


• 2nd February 2010 - Doctor Who films at Stonehenge


• 4th February 1965 - Michael Hamilton elected MP for Salisbury


• 6th February 1831 - 98 alleged Swing Rioters transported to Tasmania


• 16th February 1972 - Free play at Salisbury City Hall


• 18th February 1831 - 35 Swing Rioters board ship at Portsmouth


• 24th February 1297 - Edward I quarrels with barons at Salisbury


• 10th March 1863 - Salisbury celebrates the wedding of the future Edward VII and Queen Alexandra


• 11th March 1655 - Penruddock rebellion begins at Clarendon Park


• 12th March 1655 - Penruddock enters Salisbury


• 23rd March 1943 - HMS Stonehenge is launched


• 25th March 1539 - King Henry VIII grabs Wilton Abbey


• 1st April 1899 - the Automobile Club visit Stonehenge


• 1st April 2009 - Salisbury District Council is abolished


• 1st April 1801 - Gypsy Joshua Scamp is wrongfully hanged


• 1st April 1974 - John Glen's birthday


• 1st April 1986 - Phil Lynott dies


• 3rd April 1969 - Desmond Dekker play the Alex Disco


• 4th April 1964 - Gene Vincent plays Salisbury City Hall


• 4th April 1989 - BBC Wiltshire begins


• 5th April 1092 - dedication of Cathedral at Old Sarum


• 6th April 1967 - Pink Floyd play Salisbury City Hall


• 7th April 1224 - William Longspee lands at Bourdeaux


• 7th April 1948 - Lester Piggott rides professionally for the first time - at Salisbury Races


• 8th April 1965 - Dusty Springfield and the Zombies play Salisbury Gaumont


• 8th April 1219 - wooden chapel started on site of Salisbury Cathedral


• 10th April 1534 - Salisbury Council decides to set up a workhouse


• 10th April 1092 - old Cathedral partially destroyed by thunderstorm


• 10th April 1779 - William Hazlitt born


• 10th April 1969 - Fairport Convention play the Alex Disco


• 11th April 1992 - Common Cold Research Unit burns down


• 13th April 1980 - Salisbury Rugby club-house is opened


• 14th April 2013 - more Swing Rioters transported


• 15th April 1912 - the Titanic sinks


• 18th April 1698 - the first HMS Salisbury is launched


• 18th April 1655 - Penruddock goes on trial at Exeter


• 19th April 1882 - hoax 'dynamite outrage' at Salisbury Cathedral


• 21th Apr 1965 - the Kinks play the City Hall


• 22nd April 1681 - Salisbury Council passes by-law discriminating against Catholics and non-Conformists


• 22nd April 1737 - Act of Parliament allows for improvements in Salisbury


• 23rd April 1655 - John Penruddock convicted of High Treason against Cromwell


• 23rd April 2006 - Salisbury twins with Xanten


• 24th Apr 1968 - The Bee Gees play Salisbury Gaumont


• 24th April - Guild of Saint George procession


• 24th April 2010 - Salisbury Journal publishes 'dog hurts nose' story


• 25th April 2011 - 'Songs of Praise' films at Salisbury Cathedral


• 26th April 1630 - George Herbert comes to Bemerton


• 28th April 1220 - foundations laid for Salisbury Cathedral


• 28th April 1948 - Terry Pratchett's birthday


• 29th April 1384 - Parliament meets in the Bishop's Palace in the Close


• 29th April 2001 - census day


• 29th April 2003 - Buzzcocks play Salisbury City Hall


• 3rd May 2002 - Wessex Archaeologists uncover the Amesbury Archer


• 8th May 1945 - VE Day


• 21st May 1774 - Benjamin Franklin signs letter as 'A Freeholder of Old Sarum'


• 1st June 1802 - Salisbury celebrates peace with France, which turns out to be temporary


• 6th June 1835 - Pugin converts to Catholicism


• 6th June 2007 - John Major talks about cricket


• 8th June 1983 - Mrs Thatcher visits Salisbury


• 15th June 1786 - Matcham meets 'the Dead Drummer', possibly


• 15th June 1215 - King John assents to the Magna Carta


• 20th June 1897 – Salisbury celebrates Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee – Day 1


• 21st of June 1741 - Salisbury Cathedral spire catches fire


• 23rd June 1887 – Salisbury celebrates Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee – Day 2


• 27th June 1908 - Edward VII visits Wilton House


• 28th June 1837 - Salisbury celebrates Victoria becoming Queen


• End of July 1665 - Charles II comes to Salisbury to escape the Plague


• 5th July 2008 - Canon Ezra, a new statue on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral


• 11th July 1827 - Queen Adelaide and Princess Amelia visit Salisbury


• 15 Jul 1965 - Them play Salisbury City Hall


• 22nd July 1857 - Prince Consort visits Salisbury for Royal Agricultural Show


• 22nd July 1654 - diarist John Evelyn visits Stonehenge


• 26th July 1945 - Labour win post-war election


• 4th August 1873 - Blondin appears before 20,000 at Wilton Foresters Fete


• 6th August 1903 - Buffalo Bill's Wild West show visits Salisbury


• 7th August 1983 - Black Sabbath release 'Born Again'


• August 10th 1871 - Crown Prince of Prussia, Victoria the Princess Royal and the future Kaiser Willhelm II visit Salisbury and Stonehenge


• 10th August 1901 - Miss Moberly meets Marie Antoinette


• 17th August 1792 - George III visits Salisbury


• 18th August 1983 - Black Sabbath's Born Again tour opens


• 29th August 1782 - the Royal George sinks


• 4th September 1835 - Prince George of Cambridge stays at the White Hart


• 22nd September 1766 - Salisbury people force famers to sell at a fair price


• 24th September 2012 - 'Come Dine With Me' in Salisbury


• 26th Sept 1963 Gene Vincent plays in Salisbury


• 28th September 1625 - King Charles I visits Salisbury and Wilton


• 1st October 1981 - Crass play The Grange


• 2nd October 1538 - King Henry VIII steals the Friary


• 6th October 1970 - planning permission for Barbara Hepworth sculpture refused


• 7th October 2010 - Helen Skelton changes light bulb at the top of Salisbury Cathedral spire


• 8th October 1835 - the Lord Chancellor speaks from the balcony of the White Hart


• 9th October 1845 - Wilton's Italianate church consecrated


• 18th October 2010 Boston Tea Party opened in what was the George Inn


• 24th October 1978 - XTC play Salisbury City Hall


• 24th October 1800 - Birth of Richard Cockle Lucas


• 1st November 1990 - Levellers and Manics play SAC


• 7th November 1846 - illustrator William Brassey Hole born in Salisbury


• 14th November 1676 - birth date of Bishop Hoadly


• 19th November 1688 - James II reaches Salisbury


• 23rd November 1830 - Swing riots on Bishop's Down Farm, Salisbury


• 24th November 1979 - Salisbury FC play Millwall in FA Cup 3rd Round


• 27th November 1736 - issue no. 1 of William Collins' Salisbury Journal


• 30th November - Saint Andrew's Day


• 4th December 1540 - Amesbury Abbey is surrendered to Henry VIII


• 5th December 1595 - Henry Lawes born at Dinton


• 6th December 1882 - Duke of Albany raises money for proposed Royal College of Music


• 6th December - Saint Nicholas and the Boy Bishop


• 11th December 1916 - 'The Picture House' opens


• 15th December 1814 - Princess Charlotte of Wales visits Salisbury


• 16th December 2011 - Ian Anderson with Justin Hayward and Greg Lake plays at Salisbury Cathedral


• 20th December 1800 - Nelson given freedom of Salisbury


• 21st December 1971 - Led Zeppelin play Salisbury City Hall


• 27th December 1830 - Salisbury court convenes to try 830 Swing Rioters


• 31st December 1900 - a Stonehenge trilithon falls


• todo


• April


• York Road SP2