Birth of an icon

Even in an age of towering skyscrapers, the massive stone structure of Salisbury Cathedral remains awe-inspiring – just as it would have been to the medieval pilgrims who first laid eyes on it. Britain’s tallest spire, completed a century after the rest of the building, rises uncluttered from an expanse of surrounding lawns. Step inside, and this early Gothic masterpiece quickly reveals why it holds a reputation as one of England’s greatest treasures.

Yet Salisbury’s origins lie elsewhere. Before Bishop Richard Poore laid the current cathedral’s foundation stone in 1220, the diocese’s principal church had been at Old Sarum, a windswept hilltop two miles to the north, where it overlooked the picturesque Salisbury Plain. Then barely a century old, this