Salisbury > Salisbury and Stonehenge > 5,000 years of history
Standing proudly amid an ancient landscape high on Salisbury Plain, Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument of unique importance. Erected between 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC, its orientation on the rising and setting sun is one of its many remarkable features, but why it was built in this way remains a mystery to this day.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Stonehenge is surrounded by the remains of over 400 other scheduled monuments, some of which are older than the stone circle itself.
Elsewhere around the region you can also explore the massive Iron Age hill fort of Old Sarum which was re-used by the Romans, Saxons and Normans before becoming the original settlement of Salisbury; unearth the remains of the largest known Roman villa in the area at Rockbourne; or discover the unusual hexagonal ruins of Old Wardour Castle.
You can find Salisbury and south Wiltshire Museum, The Rifles military museum, Edward Heath's Arundells, and the National Trust's Mompesson House in the glorious setting of the Cathedral Close.
The Museum is home of the award-winning Stonehenge Gallery and houses an extensive collections relating to the history of Salisbury, and the archaeology of south Wiltshire, including finds from Old Sarum, Figsbury Ring hillfort and the former Royal residence of Clarendon Palace which you can walk past on the Monarch's Way and Clarendon Way near Salisbury.