Salisbury Plain: Its Stones, Cathedral City, Valleys, & Folk

This 1913 book chronicling the history, geography, folklore, and vignettes of life in Salisbury, England is one of many travel books the Weeks family collected. The family was inspired in their visits to the region for the construction—and name—of the future Salisbury House.

Author Ella Noyes drew on expertise of the Salisbury region from Sir Richard Colt Hoare, John Aubrey, and the contemporary Magazine of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society and Wiltshire Notes and Queries among other sources on the local history and folk-lore. The book chronicles the geography, history, and life in Salisbury from the surroundings which include Stonehenge and the Avon River valley, smaller villages, and the cathedral town of Salisbury.Constructed in the 13th century, the Salisbury Cathedral holds the tallest cathedral spire in Britain and is the home to one four original Magna Cartas.

Line drawings and reproduced watercolor illustrations throughout were produced by the author’s sister, Dora. The Salisbury Plain was published by J.M. Dent & Sons Limited, a British firm most well known for producing the Temple Press Shakespeare editions and Everyman’s Library.