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This was a nice little trip, lots of history, plenty of mystery and acres of rolling English countryside. Salisbury is of course famous for Stonehenge, and so it should be, but there's far more to the area than stone age man.
We did actually start at Stonehenge, A360 Roman road from Salisbury north, simply because we were told be there first thing by English Heritage. Nowadays you are not allowed to walk within the stones and you must stay a set distance away, so when Heritage said we could go inside the stones it wouldn't have mattered if they said "but only at midnight" we would still have jumped at the opportunity. The Henge is actually a lot smaller than I remember it as a boy, but never the less it is still one of the wonders of the world. How did Stone Age man get these giant rocks to Salisbury from Wales? And why? Well nobody really knows but it has something to do with midsummer's day because everything is set up in line with the midsummer's day sunrise, and in truth that's about as much as we know. Open all year, from 9.30am to 7pm summer, 9.30am to 4pm winter.
Woodhenge is often missed by visitors to the area and yet it's only a couple of miles away from Stonehenge. Turn left from Stonehenge onto A303 and then left again onto the A345 and pick up signs. Clearly not much of Woodhenge remains today, but concrete blocks have been put in each of the holes that were once filled with huge tree trunks. In the centre of the circle you will find a small grave, it was that of a four year old whose head was spilt open as a sacrifice and then buried along the midsummer's sun line. Open all year. Free.
The whole area is famous for its leylines. People claim that these lines have special powers which must be respected. This is not a new thought in fact Iron Age man buried his dead along those very same lines. The Valley of the Kings is a line of burrows that run along what is said to be the strongest of the leylines, just off the A303 as it becomes a duel carriageway on a small rise overlooking Stonehenge. There is a little pull-in area and then a footpath along the burrows. It is clear that for whatever reason, this area was very special to man around 4 thousand years ago, these are big burrows and in all there are 300 in the area!
Salisbury Cathedral is a must, a 12th century masterpiece it made Salisbury what it is today. Huge walls were built around the Cathedral, inside which you had safe housing. The number of buildings in the grounds and outside then grew until suddenly you had a city. Inside the Cathedral are any number of amazing stories to be told, the Magna Carta is on view here, many of the country's great leaders are buried here, there is a brass rubbing centre, the ancient cloisters, a medieval clock, the Boy Bishop, the leaning spire and the phantom birds plus much more. Open every day 8am to 8.15pm summer, 8am to 6.30pm winter. Take a day!
Also in Salisbury you will find a medieval cinema, The Odeon. A cocks stride from there is the Poultry Cross which is the only surviving one of four crosses which around the 14th century indicated what was sold where during market day, and directly opposite the cross the Haunch of Venison public house with its severed hand on display in the back room. The hand is no more real than batman, but who cares, you'll still get a good pint.
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