In 1215, King John was forced by land-owning barons to sign Magna Carta, the document that established a higher power than the monarch. This is often cited as the birth of freedom under law in the Western world. Five years after Magna Carta was signed, the Church decided to mark this new spirit of liberty by building a new cathedral in a field not far from a hill fort called Old Sarum, where a cathedral and castle (a symbol of the Crown) already stood. This link is supported by an original copy of Magna Carta in Salisbury (originally known as New Sarum) Cathedral today.

As centres of innovation and entrepreneurship, cathedrals were the Silicon Valleys of their day, attracting the original ‘cutting edge’ technology of stonemasons, carpenters, and blacksmiths. The new city of Salisbury that sprang up alongside the cathedral (and helped pay for it through the taxation of its new populace) soon became a magnet for artists and craftspeople who flocked here from across the country and all over Europe to build not just the cathedral, but homes and buildings for the new community that was growing around it. Taverns and farmers sold their produce to the hungry builders and their families, while merchants brought wool and other materials to the newly arrived weavers and tailors, who set up permanent shops, which attracted more tradespeople and makers still. Five years after the foundation of the cathedral was laid, the signing in 1227 of a Royal Charter granting a market took full advantage of this entrepreneurial boom, leading to a further influx of craftspeople that made Salisbury one of the fastest growing cities of its day.