Salisbury

sawlz'ber-i, the county town of Wiltshire, England. It is situated at the confluence of four beautiful streams, eighty miles southeast of London. The city was formerly the seat of a considerable manufacture of woolens and cutlery, but it now depends chiefly on local trade with the surrounding agricultural district. The town is also known as New Sarum. The site of a former town lies in the immediate vicinity. Up to 1832 the land owners of Old Sarum had the right of sending two members to Parliament, although there was not an inhabited building in the borough. The neighborhood is remarkably rich in antiquities. The Blackmore Museum of Salisbury contains one of the most extensive and best arranged collections of prehistoric implements and remains to be found in England. Salisbury is noted chiefly, however, for its cathedral. It has the form of a Greek cross. A central spire, celebrated for its lightness, slender proportions, and beauty, rises to a height of 404 feet, the tallest in England. The spire was completed in 1375. It is two feet out of perpendicular. The total length of the building is 449 feet. The edifice was begun in 1220. There are two transepts. The cathedral is considered the finest specimen of early English architecture in Great Britain. It is visited yearly by a large number of tourists.