5025 x 3363 px | 42,5 x 28,5 cm | 16,8 x 11,2 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
10 marzo 2008
Altre informazioni:
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering 300 square miles (780 km2). It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known landmarks. Largely as a result of the establishment of the Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain (ATE SP), the plain is sparsely populated and is the largest remaining area of calcareous grassland in north-west Europe. Additionally the plain has arable land, and a few small areas of beech trees and coniferous woodland. Salisbury Plain is famous for its history and archaeology. In the Neolithic period Stone age man began to settle on the plain, most likely centred around the causewayed enclosure of Robin Hood's Ball. Large long barrows like White Barrow and other earthworks were built across the plain. By 2500 BC areas around Durrington Walls and Stonehenge had become a focus for building, and the southern part of the plain continued to be settled into the Bronze Age. Around 600 BC Iron Age Hill Forts came to be constructed around the boundaries of the plain, including Scratchbury and Battlesbury to the south west, Bratton Camp to the north west, Casterly Camp to the north, Yarnbury and Vespasian's Camp to the south, and Sidbury Hill to the east. Roman roads are visible features, probably serving a settlement near Old Sarum. Villas are sparse, however, and Anglo-Saxon place names suggest that the plain was mostly a grain producing imperial estate. In the sixth century Anglo-Saxon incomers built planned settlements in the valleys surrounded by strip lynchets, with the downland left as sheep pasture. To the south is the city of Salisbury, whose 13th and 14th century cathedral is famous for having the tallest spire in the country, and the building was, for centuries, the tallest building in Britain. The cathedral is evidence of the prosperit