♪Salisbury Plain♪
♪As I walked over Salisbury Plain,
It was there I met this scamping young blade.
He kissed me and enticèd me so
Till along with him I was forced for to go.♪
The Salisbury Plain, 300 square miles of English prairie grassland is rich with wildlife and
famous for harbouring some of England's finest archaeological treasures and a landscape blistered
with prehistoric cultural legacies.
On a hill two miles from the modern town of Salisbury rises a set of ramparts lifted upwards
from the surrounding lowland.
Presiding over the lush green landscape stands Old Sarum.
♪“Undress yourself, my darling,” says he,
“Undress yourself and come to bed with me.”♪
Old Sarum is a remarkable sight.
To look at it's a series of huge imposing fortifications that sit on a western spur
of a ridge that looks out and has fantastic views commanding views of the landscape all
around and it's because of its position that it had a really strategically important place
and was recognized for its importance by William the Conqueror and a castle began to be built
here in around about 1070 just four short years after the Norman Conquest.
In 1086 it was William who made all the landowners of England come to Old Sarum and to swear
an oath of allegiance directly to him and it was really part of trying to secure their
unwavering loyalty so not to any other overlord or anybody else that people felt they had
obligations to, this was William the Conqueror really trying to make sure that the landowners
of England saw Him as their king.
We've got the remains here of the castle that was built around 1070 and there was a cathedral
here as well built in the outer bailey and of course, all that remains really these now
are ruins or low walls uncovered through excavation but beyond that the whole site would have
been full it's true to say that this really was a thriving city it would have been filled
with bakehouses, brew houses, stables, accommodation for the garrisons, the houses of the rich and
poor, laypeople and clergy and those people coming to visit the cathedral and visit the
castle.
It would have been filled with sights, sounds, smells everything really that you'd expect
from it -from a thriving community.
As with so many of the ancient places that we see around us in the English landscape
there is far more to Old Sarum than meets the eye.
These dramatic earthworks that housed the castle and the cathedral and this thriving
city are actually prehistoric.
They pre-date the building of the castle by far more than a thousand years.
Were first constructed in the Iron Age it's unclear exactly the date of its first construction
because the later activity on the site has wiped so much of the evidence away.
But it shows to us that this landscape has been occupied for many many thousands of years.
When first constructed the hill fort would have been striking - its banks would have
been shining white with the local chalk it would have been visible for a great distance
and indeed from here, you'd have been able to see the hill forts that are dotted around
the surrounding landscape.
This landscape is one that's likely to have been farmed with a well-established network
of trackways, settlements and field systems.
The vestiges of which are still just about visible so it's always important really to
go below what we can see immediately on the surface we can look beneath the ruins that
we see on Old Sarum there's a much deeper story to be told here.
If songs can capture the contour of a place then the ancient modal melody of Salisbury
Plain, named after this very land, sings in harmonious service to this wide and spacious
landscape.
Sung for us by Alice Zawadzki, this is a traditional song collected by the composer Vaughn Williams
in 1904.
Set amongst the wide-open grasslands.
The tune and lyrics almost as old as the chalk beneath these very hills, speak of a furtive
love affair following a chance encounter that leads to a young highwayman's demise.
♪As I walked over Salisbury Plain,
It was there I met a scamping young blade.
He kissed me and enticèd me so
Till along with him I was forced for to go.
We came to a public house at last
And there for man and wife we did pass.
He called for ale and wine and strong beer,
Till at length to bed we both did repair.
“Undress yourself, my darling,” says he,
“Undress yourself and come to bed with me.”
“Oh yes, that I will,” then says she,
“If you'll keep all those flash girls away.”
“Of those flash girls you need have not fear,
For you'll be safeguarded, my dear.
I'll maintain you as some lady so gay,
For I'll go a-robbing on the King's highway.”
It's early next morning my love he arose,
And so nimbly he put on his clothes,
Straight to the highway he set sail,
And 'twas there he robbed the coaches of the mail.
And now in Newgate Gaol he does lie,
Expecting every moment to die,
May God have mercy on his poor soul,
For I think I hear the death-bell does toll.♪