The first Salisbury Cathedral was completed at Old Sarum in 1092 under Osmund, the first Bishop of Salisbury. The Domesday Book is thought to have been presented to William the Conqueror at Old Sarum a few years earlier, in 1086. Disputes with the military and scarce water supplies led to an alternative location being sought and in 1220 a new site for the Cathedral was consecrated at New Sarum.
In this section of the website you can trace the major events of this Cathedral's history since, from the first phase of building, through the adding of the spire, via medieval upheaval, Reformation and Restoration to the reorderings of the 18th and 19th centuries and the Major Repair of the late 20th century. There is also the chance to find out more about the Sarum Rite, a form of liturgy developed in Salisbury which influenced English worship from the Middle Ages to the Reformation.