Salisbury

Coordinates: 51°04′26″N 1°47′37″W / 51.0740°N 1.7936°W / 51.0740; -1.7936

Salisbury (various pronunciations, but locally /ˈsɔːzbri/, SAWZ-bree) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England, and the only city within the county. It is the third-largest settlement in the county, after Swindon and Chippenham, with a population of 41,682.

The city is located in the southeast of Wiltshire, near the edge of Salisbury Plain. Its cathedral was formerly located to the north at Old Sarum; following its relocation, a settlement grew up around it, drawing residents from Old Sarum and Wilton. The new town received its city charter in 1227 under the name New Sarum, which continued to be its official name until 2009, when the Salisbury City Council was established. It sits at the confluence of five rivers: the Nadder, Ebble, Wylye, and Bourne are tributary to the Hampshire Avon, which flows to the south coast and into the sea at Christchurch in Dorset. Salisbury railway station serves the city and is a regional interchange, marking the crossing point between the West of England Main Line and the Wessex Main Line.

Salisbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Salisbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by John Glen, a Conservative.

History

From 1295, (the Model Parliament) a form of this constituency on a narrower area, the Parliamentary borough of Salisbury, returned two MPs to the House of Commons of England Elections were held using the bloc vote system. This afforded the ability for wealthy male townsfolk who owned property rated at more than £2 a year liability in Land Tax to vote in the county and borough (if they met the requirements of both systems). The franchise (right to vote) in the town was generally restricted to male tradespersons and professionals within the central town wards, however in medieval elections would have been the aldermen. The constituency co-existed with a neighbouring minuscule-electorate seat described towards its Great Reform Act abolition as a rotten borough: Old Sarum that covered the mostly abandoned Roman citadel to the northeast.