Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain is a 780 square kilometer plateau of chalk in the central southern England and is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation. Most of the plane is in the county of Wiltshire north of Salisbury, the rest in Berkshire. The plain is famous for its numerous archaeological sites, of which Stonehenge is the best known. The only sparsely populated area is used for forestry and agriculture. The level and some surrounding areas are classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The only large towns are Durrington and Amesbury. There are also numerous hamlets and military installations. Salisbury Plain is due to the low population density of more than 100 years one of the most important training grounds of the British Army. Larkhill is the birthplace of military aviation in the United Kingdom, the oldest squadrons of the Royal Air Force were erected here in 1911, the flight operation has already been set in 1914. At Porton Down are the facilities of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, whose research is secret for the most part.

Right through the plane performs the main A303 road. There are plans to build a tunnel to protect Stonehenge from the damage caused by the large volume of traffic.

There has been described the level of the writers William Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy and William Henry Hudson, while John Constable painted numerous landscapes.

Geography

The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire, to 297 m. The plane is intersected by the river valleys of the Wylye, Avon and Bourne. They all have a narrow, limited by steep slopes river level, and are relatively densely populated. Wylye and Bourne unite in Salisbury for Avon, the south continues to flow and flows near Christchurch in the English Channel.

In the east the plain of the Hampshire Downs is limited, and in the north of the Berkshire Downs, both chalk hills. In the southwest of the Dorset Downs and Cranbourne Chase lie. To the west and northwest, especially in the Blackmore Vale, at the Avon Vale and Vale of Ardour, the chalk rock passes into clay and limestone. In the south of the New Forest.

Since the vast training grounds of the army are not open to the public, can claim many endangered animal and plant species there. There are two nature reserves, and in 2003 the Great Bustard on Salisbury Plain was settled again.

History

Salisbury Plain was inhabited during the Neolithic period and the first inhabitants largely freed the level of the original vegetation. First, the population was concentrated on the Wall settlements ( causewayed camps ) of White Sheet Hill and Robin Hood 's Ball. It originated Henges as Avebury and Durrington Walls. To 2200 BC Stonehenge and Avebury were ceremonial focal points; from this period are numerous round and long barrows. In 600 BC, large Bronze Age hill forts were built at Scratchbury and Battlesbury. Today recognizable are the remains of Roman roads, which probably opened up a settlement at Old Sarum. However, rustic villas are sparse and later Anglo-Saxon place names suggest that the plane was a state domain mainly, was cultivated with cereals.

In the 6th century built Anglo-Saxon immigrants in the valleys of agricultural terraces surrounded settlements, while the higher-lying areas of the plane served as a sheep pasture. To the south lies the city of Salisbury, the local cathedral was built in the 13th and 14th century and was for centuries the tallest building in England. The cathedral is an indication of the prosperity brought to the wool trade and materials in the region.

In the early modern period a system of controlled flooded Wässerwiesen was designed and developed to Salisbury around big mansions. Between 1794 and 1810 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built. Mid-19th century began the decline of the wool and textile industries, which led to a decline in population. The sheep pastures were left to the agriculture and the military. During this period of decline Wiltshire became one of the poorest counties of England. 1896 Guglielmo Marconi experimented on the Salisbury Plain of wireless telecommunications, and was able to send a signal over a distance of nearly three miles.

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