*SARUM-OLD, (Wiltshire) about 1 m. N. of New-Sarum, or Salisbury, stands on a high, steep, chalk hill, and has the ruins of a fort, which bel. to the ancient Britons; and is said also to have been one of the Roman stations. It has a double intrenchment, with a deep ditch to each. It is of an orbicular form, and has a very august look, being erected on one of the most elegant plans for a fortress that can be imagined. In the N.W. angle stood the cathedral and the palace of the Bp. whose see was removed hither from Wilton and Sherborn. Here synods and Pts. have formerly been held; and hither were the states of the Km. summoned to swear fidelity to Will. the Conq. Here also was a palace of the British and Saxon Ks. and of the Roman emperors; but was deserted in the R. of Hen. III. for want of water, so that one farmhouse is all that is left of this ancient city; yet it is called the Borough of Old-Sarum, and sends 2 members to Pt. who are chosen by the proprietors of certain adjacent lands. The manor was purchased by the late governor Pitt (who brought the famous large diamond from the East-Indies, which was bought by the French K. and is worn as the button to his hat) and is since come by marriage to Rob. Needham, Esq; one of its late members. Bp. Godwin relates, that the steeple of its Ch. was set on fire by lightning, the very day after its consecration; but repaired by its Bp. Osmond, who in 1076 composed that form of service, called fecundum usum Sarum, which was afterwards received in most of the choirs of England, Wales, and Ireland.