SALISBURY

The cathedral at Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. formerly New Sarum city in Salisbury district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England, at the confluence of the Rivers Avon and Wiley. It has functioned historically as the principal town of Wiltshire and is the seat of an Anglican bishop. The origins of Salisbury lie in Old Sarum, an Early Iron Age fort 1.5 miles (2.5 km) north taken over by the Romans. Under the Saxons it became an important town, and by the 11th century it possessed a mint. The Normans built a castle on the mound, and Old Sarum became a bishopric when the see was transferred from Sherborne in 1075. The present cathedral was founded in the neighbouring valley, site of modern Salisbury, in 1220, and a new city quickly developed around it. The Black and Grey friaries were both established in the 13th century. An earthen rampart was built around the city in 1310, and soon afterward gates were added. The cloth and wool trades flourished in the Middle Ages, and the making of cutlery also became prominent. Today the city centre remains much as it was in medieval times, laid out in gridiron fashion. The cathedral and a large number of timber-framed buildings survive. Salisbury is a tourist and market centre. Principal occupations are cattle and poultry marketing, engineering, brewing, leatherwork, and printing. Pop. (1991) 39,268. district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England, centred on the historic city of Salisbury and occupying the southern part of the county. With 388 square miles (1,005 sq km), it is a predominantly rural area in which cattle and produce are raised. The Ministry of Defense owns much of the land and maintains a number of camps there. The district is rich in prehistoric monuments, including Stonehenge, Neolithic burial sites, and Iron Age strongholds. Pop. (1998 est.) 113,900. city, seat (1753) of Rowan County, west central North Carolina, U.S., near High Rock Lake; with Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Charlotte, it forms the Piedmont Industrial Triangle. It was settled in 1753 and was presumably named for the city of Salisbury in Wiltshire, Eng. The pioneer Daniel Boone lived along the banks of the nearby Yadkin River from 1755 to 1767, and in 1787 Andrew Jackson was admitted to the bar in Salisbury after studying law with Judge Spruce Macay. The troops of the British general Lord Cornwallis pursued those of the colonial general Nathanael Greene through the town in February 1781, before the Battle of Guilford Courthouse; a small skirmish resulted at Old Trading Ford, 6 miles (10 km) east. In Salisbury National Cemetery are the graves of about 11,700 Federal soldiers who died during the Civil War in a large Confederate prison. Salisbury is the site of a U.S. Veterans Administration hospital (1953), Catawba College (1851), Livingstone College (1879), and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (1963). Inc. 1755. Pop. (1990) 23,087. city, seat (1867) of Wicomico county, southeastern Maryland, U.S., at the head of the Wicomico River in the south-central part of the Delmarva Peninsula, south of the Delaware state line. It was established in 1732 and named for the English city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. Historic landmarks include Old Green Hill Church (1733), Poplar Hill Mansion (c. 1805), and Pemberton Hall (1741). The first stone marker of the Mason and Dixon Line was laid 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Salisbury in 1768. Salisbury developed as a commercial transportation centre for the peninsula and became the second port of Maryland. Its economy is based on poultry farming, light industries (petroleum-handling equipment, electronic products, pharmaceuticals, plastic film and sheet, and manufactured housing), and tourism (duck hunting and fishing). The Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art has collections of decoys and paintings of wildfowl. Salisbury State University, part of the University of Maryland system, was established in 1925. The Wicomico Demonstration Forest is nearby. Inc. city, 1872. Pop. (1990) 20,592; (1996 est.) 21,160.