Heritage

The history of Salisbury has been greatly influenced by the five tributaries of the river that meet at Salisbury - the Avon, Nadder, Wylye, Bourne and Ebble.

A stated advantage of the site of Salisbury (New Sarum vs. Old Sarum) was the abundance of water.

The main industries in Salisbury were all dependant on river water:

• Tanning or leather working was one of the more noxious of the trades associated with and located beside river water. Medieval Salisbury had numerous tanners
• Salisbury was also a centre of clothmaking with a fulling mill in 1562 (Town Mill).
• The main concentration of dyers in the region were also in medieval Salisbury, where a city guild existed. There is some evidence that the city's dyers were concentrated in Castle Street, where their premises would have backed on to the Avon millstream. It is assumed that the watercourses running along most streets in Salisbury were also used by dyers.

Langford Lakes are located by the River Wylye upstream of Salisbury. Blashford Lakes are located downstream of Salisbury when all the tributaries become the River Avon.

The extraction of valley gravels for use in concrete manufacture and other building and engineering activities has resulted in extensive flooded gravel pits which form Langford and Blashford Lakes. Langford Lakes is managed by the Wiltlshire Wildlife Trust and Blashford Lakes by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Both are significant areas for wildlife and offer a variety of walks and educational activities.

Lying close to the River Avon, Amesbury is surrounded by an ancient landscape. There was settlement on the downs in neolithic times, between 4,500 - 6,000 years ago, when the first Stonehenge and many of the surrounding earthworks were created. Stonehenge was built around 4000 years ago and was probably the major religious and ceremonial structure in southern England at this time. The surrounding area was heavily farmed and the area was densely populated in neolithic and bronze age times.

Major settlement near Amesbury first occurred in the iron age at the wrongly-named Vespasian's Camp. This large hill fort of 500 B.C., to the west of Amesbury on the west bank of the river, could have enclosed 1,000 people from a substantial area around. Roman villa settlements have also existed at Amesbury due to the importance of the River Avon to convey produce downstream.

At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), Amesbury was owned by the King and there were 8 mills along the River Avon (one of the largest number on the Avon system).

The little community of Amesbury flourished through the Middle Ages. One of its most important industries after the introduction of tobacco in 1570 was the making of clay pipes, local quarries providing a clay of particularly high quality. The pipes were popular until about sixty years ago, but the business heyday was the 17th century. Tributes were generous - 'best for shape and colour' and 'the best tobacco pipes in England'.

After travelling from Pewsey in Wiltshire the River Avon's adventures come to an end at its delta at Christchurch, but for the explorers, pioneers, pirates, soldiers, refugees, traders, merchants and artisans for over 5000 years, who sailed and rowed and paddled their little craft past the great landmark of Hengistbury Head and up the shining river to the unknown, for those the adventure was just beginning.

Christchurch began as a Saxon village. Its original name was Tweoxneam, which means "between two rivers". The Saxon settlement stood on a triangular piece of land at the confluence of the rivers Stour and Avon. It was defended by the sea on one side and the two rivers on the other two sides.

The name of the settlement was changed to Christchurch when the church was built in the 11th century. Miracles had long been associated with the foundation of the priory. The first builders had started to erect the church on St. Catherine's Hill which rises to the north, but every night an unseen hand removed it to the site by the river. On one day a beam, when place in position by the workmen, was found to be too short. They left the work disheartened. Next morning the unseen hand had lengthened it and set it right. The builders decided the stranger must have been Jesus Christ so they moved the site of the church to the river and changed the name of the town to Christchurch.

At the time of the Domesday book (1086) Christchurch had a population of around 170, which made it a fairly large village for that time. It had one watermill (Place Mill), which ground grain to flour for the inhabitants. It was powered partly by a millstream, partly by tide.

In 1623 John Taylor, the water-poet, describes his Christchurch expedition as the most difficult for "toyle, travail and danger" of all his journeys. After making Christchurch in a storm they proceeded up the Avon to Salisbury. The Avon, he says, can be made as passable as the Thames. He exhorts the people of Salisbury to consider the advantages which would accrue to them. "What man," he justly asks, "can tell what good may rebound in time to your city from the sea by foreign goods which may be brought from Christchurch Haven by shipping," some result of this suggestion may be found in the Act of 1664 for making the river navigable.

In the 18th century there were still many fishermen in Christchurch. Other industries in the town were knitting silk stockings, glove making and making fusee chains (a type of very small chain that formed part of the mechanism of a watch). Another important industry was brewing.

Perhaps the most profitable industry in those days was smuggling. Christchurch had a number of natural advantages for smugglers. The only land approaches to the town were across two bridges, and one of these was frequently out of use. The other could easily be blocked - perhaps by a herd of sheep when there was a sign of danger, giving the smugglers time for a leisurely escape.

Settlement in the Downton area was probably continuous from late Neolithic times with farming in the river valley.

Due to the importance of streams and rivers to convey produce downstream the Romans had a villa settlement at Downton.

Major settlement at Downton began in the Saxon period, even closer to the River Avon. The river was the lifeline of the village as it powered the mills. The Domesday Book (1086) records seven mills in the valley. Two early inhabitants of the Borough were weavers and a fulling mill - pounding and 'felting' the cloth is mentioned in 1215 - one of the earliest in Wiltshire.

The most important industry for Downton was tanning. Records show that a tanner worked in the village in 1606. A small watercourse flowed from the river at the rear of the site, went underneath the tannery and emerged into the river by the undershot waterwheel. Hides were hung individually and soaked in vats of tan, a mixture of chalky Avon water and ground tree bark birch or mimosa, which permeates the fibres and softens the leather.

There were many other local industries in Downton once, mostly related to the river: the making of shoes, paper, brickyards, maltsters, baskets from local osier beds, and straw hats, are all gone now. Only tanning had survived until the closure of the factory in 2000.

There were also attempts to make the Avon navigable through Downton to Salisbury but this failed because of the extensive water meadows and the mills.

Fordingbridge was recorded in the Domedsay Book with two mills and is steeped in centuries of history form Neolithic to Roman settlements. The town was originally known as "Forde" and the "bridge" element of the name was not added until the River Avon was first spanned at this point. The magnificent Great Bridge was in existence in 1286 and possibly earlier. The bridge is a major feature of the town with its seven graceful arches, which can be seen very easily from the town's large riverside park.

The medieval bridge limited the hight of vessels at Fordingbridge, and their draught was limited by numerous shallows cause by weirs, mills, crossing places and other obstructions.

Dyers and tanners worked at Fordingbridge in the 15th century. Untypically for the area Fordingbridge was noted for ticking manufacture (the familiar striped bed-ticking being made here) in the late 18th century, as well as flax, calico and sailcloth.

Breweries (notably Absolam's) and maltings existed at Fordingbridge in the 19th and into the 20th centuries. This industry used river water, with all the chief breweries near or alongside the river.

Agriculture around Fordingbridge used river mud, described as "mawme" or "malm", a light loamy soil obtained from the slub or slushy mud of the river Avon for spreading on arable fields as nutrient.

Fordingbridge was also a notorious smuggling centre, and a local saying runs 'Keystone under the hearth, Keystone under the horse's belly' since these were two favourite places for hiding contraband - under the stable floor, and under the hearth, with a fire burning innocently on top. When opposition at Fordingbridge got really intense, smugglers would sink tubs in the river Avon.

Evidence of Avon navigation can be found at Fordingbridge. Horeseport, on the south side of the medieval Great Bridge, is a significant name in itself. The navigation is shown by Naish as leaving the main river below Burgate House, passing Fordingbridge on the east side of the main river and rejoining the river below the bridge by the Recreation Ground. Though the original channel seems untraceable in the meadows north of the Criddlestyle/Godshill road and at Burgate House, it gradually appears as a drainage ditch in the field near Horseport and passes under the old A338 road at Horseport by another brick single-arched bridge with stone parapets.

An ox roast was held on the frozen river at Fordingbridge in 1868/9.

Hengistbury Head lies at the mouth of the River Avon in Christchurch. The initial formation of Hengistbury Head dates back approximately 60 million years. Until comparatively recent geological time Hengistbury Head was several kilometres inland.

The prehistoric port Hengistbury Head, at the mouth of the River Avon, was the premier port for the import of continental goods such as Italian wine in around 100 BC. Some have referred to it as the first truly urban settlement in England. The influence of the settlement at Hengistbury declined during Roman times and finally ended as they left.

The west side of Hengistbury Head, where low sand cliffs line the shore, was the favoured landing-place for smugglers. Across the neck of the Head at this point run the Double Dykes, an ancient fortification, part of some invader's sea camp of past days. Down the deep hollow-way thus formed the smugglers brought their cargoes.

Pewsey is a settlement of ancient origins with evidence of occupation dating back to the 6th Century. In 880 AD its name is recorded as 'pefesigge' meaning 'Little Island' or 'well watered land', undoubtedly a reference to its location in a gentle dip at a crossing point on the River Avon near the centre of the fertile vale.

King Alfred, who was crowned King of Wessex in 870 AD, owned much of the land in the Pewsey Vale. Legend has it that he went off to war and left his wife in the care of the people of Pewsey. Upon his safe return, he granted the inhabitants of Pewsey the right to an annual feast. This may be commemorated in the Feaste Ball now held every other year and incorporated into the modern day Pewsey Carnival - held for two weeks in September. A statue of King Alfred, unveiled in June 1913 to commemorate the coronation of George V, still stands in the centre of Pewsey.

Beyond the river, north of the village, lay Pewsey Common, a large area of pasture ground on greensand. The River Avon above Pewsey is too insignificant in itself to support floated water meadows, but they were nevertheless achieved from water supplied from ponds fed by springs. After water meadows became redundant in the later nineteenth century the springs served watercress beds, and later a trout farm. But the meadows have survived, and since 1980 they have been protected as a nature reserve, known as Jones's Mill.

Pewsey has been sustained throughout the ages essentially from agriculture, (the dominant occupation), and the woollen industry. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Pewsey was said to have had 46 villagers, 24 tenant farmers, 6 serfs and 7 mills. There were still four mills in the 13th century.

The eleventh century name of Ringwood was "Rincevede" which meant a ford or "wade" (vede) over a river or watercourse (rine). Ringwood was famous throughout England for knitted woollen gloves and stockings and as a brewing town. This industry used river water, with all the chief breweries near or alongside the river.

Ringwood is recorded in the Domesday survey with a population of 86 people and 2 mills.

Tisbury is the largest village in the Nadder Valley and has been a settlement for over 2,000 years. The 12th century parish church of St John the Baptist sits on the northern bank of the River Nadder and is well worth a visit, not least because the churchyard boasts a 4,000-year-old yew tree, as estimated by David Bellamy using carbon dating.

Using modern interpretation of Domesday figures (1086) it would seem that over 300 people lived in Tisbury. 4 mills were recorded. The village itself is likely to have been in the lower part of the present High Street and around the church.

The main industry would have been mixed farming practised in small rectangular fields with a wide range of cereals grown. Livestock was mainly sheep, goats and oxen, with pigs in the wooded river valleys.

Other industry in Tisbury was related to the river:

• In the 12th century quarrying occurred in the Nadder Valley and it is now believed that much of the stone for Salisbury Cathedral and other high-status buildings including Old Sarum, Wilton Abbey and many South Wiltshire churches came from Tisbury. By 1846 there were 40 stone quarries, although not all were in use. They were mainly used for local buildings as, in the first part of the 19th century, Tisbury stone was expensive in London as there was no local canal or railway for transport.
• Tanning or leather working was one of the more noxious of the trades associated with and located beside river water. Early references to tanners within the area of the Avon system are at Tisbury in 1379.
• Cloth production is evidenced by mention of a fulling mill in the early 14th century and weavers are mentioned from 1372 to 1762. By 1334 this was a wealthy and populous parish, which including Hatch, was given the fifth highest assessment for wealth in the county.

Wilton lies three miles west of Salisbury, nestling in the junction of the Wylye and Nadder rivers, which join the River Avon just beneath Salisbury.

This settlement became the fortified place of the Wilsaetes tribe who took their name from the river Wylye beside which they dwelt. The Wilsaetes and Wilton were to give their name to the whole county of Wiltshire. It is likely that a shire based on Wilton existed by the first half of the 8th century, although it is first mentioned in 802 as Wilsaete and later in the 9th century as Wiltunscir. The historic county boundaries were established by 900. Wilton itself was established as a royal seat of the Kingdom of Wessex by the 9th century, although after the Danish wars of King Alfred the seat moved permanently to Winchester. Wilton however remained the administrative centre of Wiltshire until the 11th century.

Tradition has it that King James I held court at Wilton in 1603 when Shakespeare and his company gave the first performance of 'As You Like It'.