In 1801 Salisbury had a population of 7,668. By the standards of the time it was a fair sized town. However Salisbury grew little in the early 19th century and had a population of less than 9,500 in 1851. In the later 19th century the population grew more rapidly. It reached 17,000 by 1901.
In the 19th century the industrial revolution transformed Britain but it largely passed Salisbury by. Salisbury remained a market town and the old cloth industry died out altogether.
However there were some improvements in Salisbury during the 19th century. In 1833 Salisbury gained gas street light and 1836 a modern police force was created in the town. Then in 1847 the railway arrived.
However in 1849 Salisbury suffered a severe outbreak of cholera and 192 people died. Afterwards, in the 1850s sewers were dug under the town and a piped water supply was created.
Salisbury museum was founded in 1860. In 1892 a public swimming pool opened.
The original settlement at Salisbury was on a hill north of the town. By the early 19th century it had dwindled to almost nothing. It became a 'rotten borough' where 10 voters elected 2 MPs! This situation was finally ended in 1832. Then in 1882 Old Sarum was finally extinguished when it became a public park.
Did You Know............
In 1823;the artist John Constable painted his famous view of the cathedral from the grounds of the Bishop's Palace. Between 1860 - 1878;the Restoration of the Cathedral was undertaken by Sir George Gilbert Scott. 1850's; despite the fact that the site was derelict, Old Sarum continued to send a representative to Parliament until the mid 19th century 1887; dating back to 1887, Victoria Park is the oldest park in Salisbury 1848; on display in the White Hart hotel is a copy of a letter written by Charles Dickens to his wife when he stayed at the hotel in 1848.
Salisbury Inns that feature in The Spire Chronicle
The Green Dragon: Early in 'Martin Chuzzlewit', Dickens introduces a little Wiltshire village within easy journey of the fair old town of Salisbury. It lies a short a distance off the main coaching road to London and has a snug alehouse, which he calls the Blue Dragon where much of the action takes place. Nearby is a church with a tapering spire, a forge, a sparkling stream and a three storey house where the architect Mr Pecksniff lives Two Wiltshire pubs claim to be the original for the Blue Dragon, this one and the George at Amesbury, but the latter has little evidence to support its claim. To complicate matters, Dickensian scholar Robert Allbut - working on the coach-route clue - has suggested a third possibility; the Red Lion at Winterslow. He suggests All Saints as the church where Tom Pinch played the organ, and that Clarendon Park, between Winterslow and Salisbury then less a park than a wood was the scene of Jonas Chuzzlewit's murder of Montague Tigg The charming 15th-century Green Dragon is generally accepted as Dickens's model and it does have a lot going for it. Dickens's pub had an unusually large upstairs room for a village alehouse which required a couple of steps down to enter. On the down side, Alderbury is not enroute to London. It lies South East of Salisbury and is directly on the old coaching road to Southampton. The village sits on a hill with views to the Cathedral spire. There is a stream but it is down in the valley and the church is half-a-mile mile away.
The White Hart which dominates St John Street was built on the site of an earlier inn dating from the time of Henry VII. Whilst lodging nearby; faking the symptoms of leprosy and publicly refusing food, Sir Walter Raleigh secretly obtained a leg of mutton and some loaves from the White Hart. The deception was a ploy to buy him some time while he worked on his 'Apology for the Voyage to Guiana' which Raleigh hoped would placate King James Ist following the failure of the expedition. Much of Charles Dickens's 'Martin Chuzzlewit' is set in and around Salisbury. It was here in the White Hart that Martin and Tom Pinch were entertained to a sumptuous dinner by John Westlock who ordered everything they had ever dreamed of. Dickens begins his wonderful description of the hostelry and the meal with these words: "A Famous Inn! The hall a very grove of dead game and dangling joints of mutton" In Thomas Hardy's Wessex stories Salisbury features as Melchester. In the Hand of Ethelberta we read that Lord Mountclere followed Ethellberta from the station and saw her and her companion turn in to the Red Lion. 'He paused and entered the White Hart, the rival hotel, which stood in an adjoining street. In 'A Committee-Man of the "Terror"' Madam V had left the coach here. The present building of three storeys was erected c1800. The portico which projects across the pavement was added in 1820. Above this a balcony with four massive Ionic pillars supports a pediment on which an effigy of a large white hart proudly stands with its neck encircled by a gold band of tradition.
The Haunch of Venison: Probably the oldest hostelry in SalisburyThe enormous oak beams, which can be seen throughout, pre-date the building by several hundred years and are thought to come from early sailing vessels.
The first record of the Haunch of Venison is circa 1320 when the building was used to house craftsmen working on the Cathedral spire. At this time Minster Street had open running sewers, so entrance to the property was at the back of the building facing the Church. St Thomas’s Church had significant interest in the Haunch in the early years, even during the 14th Century when the property was reputedly a brothel and to save any embarrassment to local and visiting clergy a tunnel was built between the church and the tavern.
The King's Head: The site of this Wetherspoon pub has been occupied by an inn since the 15th century. By c1520, it was known as the King's Head, and it retained that name until it was rebuilt in the 1880s.
The County Hotel was, itself, a change of name some time during the 1880s or 1890s. Before then, it was the Kings Head and Brewery. The King's Head was an inn with a long pedigree. In 1623, John Taylor, the 'Water Poet', demonstrated that the Avon could be made navigable by rowing his boat from London. On reaching Fisherton Bridge, he lodged at the King's Head Inn. The Kings Head is recorded as having been at Fisherton Anchor since 1526