English city of Salisbury

Back Story

Toby Melville/Reuters

Last week, two Russians named by Britain as the prime suspects in a nerve agent attack said that they were merely visiting the “wonderful” English city of Salisbury as tourists.

They wouldn’t have been alone.

Near the famous Stonehenge site, the city is about 90 miles southwest of London and is perhaps most famous for its Gothic cathedral, above, which attracts half a million visitors a year.

In “Notes From a Small Island,” the best-selling author Bill Bryson explained, “There is no doubt in my mind that Salisbury Cathedral is the single most beautiful structure in England.”

The main body of the cathedral was completed in 1258 and, as noted by one of the suspects in an interview on Russian TV, “It’s famous for its 123-meter spire.” (That’s equivalent to 404 feet, making it the tallest church spire in Britain.)

The cathedral contains the best-preserved of the four original copies of Magna Carta, the 13th-century document to restrict the powers of the king.

It’s also the burial place of Edward Heath, the former British prime minister, and is home to what is thought to be the world’s oldest mechanical clock.

The cathedral has also featured widely in literature and art, particularly in the work of the landscape painter John Constable.

Chris Stanford wrote today’s Back Story.