In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Salisbury Plain like this:
SALISBURY PLAIN, an undulating tract of chalkcountry, in Wilts; extending from the E border west-ward to Westbury and Warminster, and from the vale of Pewsey 10 miles southward to the vicinity of Salisbury. It. has an average elevation of about 400 feet above sea-level; rises in the W, on Westbury down, to a height of775 feet; presents a rolling surface, somewhat similar to that of the ocean after a storm; is watered in the S E by the river Bourne, across the E portion, past Amesbury, by the river Avon, and along the S W border by the river Wiley; contains the stupendous old monument Stonehenge, and numerous ancient camps, barrows, and earth-works; was, till a comparatively recent period, all in a state of nature, bare of trees, and used only for sheep-pasture; and still includes tracts either waste or entirelypastoral; but has been extensively reclaimed for cultivation, even up to the very vicinity of Stonehenge. ...
Extensions of it anciently went into Hants and Somerset; giving it a length of about 50 miles from E to W, and abreadth of 35 or more from N to S.
Salisbury Plain through time
Salisbury Plain is now part of Salisbury district. Click here for graphs and data of how Salisbury has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Salisbury Plain itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Salisbury Plain, in Salisbury and Wiltshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/26150
Date accessed: 16th April 2024
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