Old Sarum Airfield
airport in the United Kingdom
Old Sarum Airfield (ICAO: EGLS) is a grass strip airfield 2 miles (3.2 kilometres)} north-north-east of Salisbury, in Laverstock parish, Wiltshire, England.
The adjacent areas are a mix of vacant land, residential and industrial sites. Residential areas lie to the south and east, occupying the old airfield married quarters and officers' mess, now known as Throgmorton Hall. Industrial/business units occupy a number of the First World War and Second World War airfield buildings, as well as several large modern warehouses, office blocks and car showrooms.
Old Sarum is a well-preserved flying field of the First World War period, bounded by one of the most complete suites of technical and hangar buildings of the period. The site has three Grade II* listed hangars and a Grade II listed former workshop, all built in 1918, as well as a Grade II listed Territorial Army Headquarters (the 1935 Station Headquarters).
The airfield was designated as a conservation area by Salisbury District Council in February 2007.
An aviation museum opened in Hangar 1 in July 2012, after the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection relocated from the nearby Boscombe Down airfield.
Airspace and procedures
Old Sarum airfield Aerodrome Traffic Zone (ATZ) sits within the nearby MoD Boscombe Down Military Aerodrome Traffic Zone (MATZ). Old Sarum Airfield procedures dictate that all circuits, weekday and weekend, are to the south with a crosswind departure and a base leg joins at circuit height.
“Old Sarum Airfield” enters the record as airport in the United Kingdom. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sarum, Airfield and airport can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Old Sarum Airfield” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sarum, Airfield and airport provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3915612. Authority coordinates are 51.099, -1.784. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1935, 2007 and 2012.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Old Sarum Airfield”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Old Sarum Airfield primary sources, Old Sarum Airfield archive and Sarum research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Old Sarum Airfield” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.