Sarum College

Sarum College is a centre of theological learning in Salisbury, England. The college was established in 1995 and sits within the cathedral close on the north side of Salisbury Cathedral.

The Sarum College education programme ranges from short courses to postgraduate level, including certificates, diplomas and master's degrees courses in Christian Spirituality, Theology, Imagination and Culture.

The onsite theological library holds a collection of more than 35,000 books and journals and is open to students and the general public.

The college is a meeting and conference centre for groups, organisations and businesses and welcomes individuals for private stays, including B&B, study breaks, sabbaticals and retreats.

The history of theological study begins with Saint Osmund and the completion of the first cathedral at Old Sarum in 1092. After Old Sarum was abandoned in favour of New Sarum (or Salisbury, as it came to be known) and the new cathedral was built in the 1220s, several colleges were established.

There is a long-standing tradition that there was a medieval school of theology on the site of No. 19. It was at this time that Salisbury nearly became a university city to rival Oxford and Cambridge, but history took a different turn.

The main building at the front of the site was built in 1677 and has long been attributed to Sir Christopher Wren for Francis Hill, a distinguished London lawyer and deputy recorder for Salisbury. He chose a particularly striking site, at the north end of Bishop's Walk, facing directly down to the Bishop's Palace (now the Cathedral School). The house remained in the Hill family until the end of the 18th century. In February 1952 the main building was designated as a Grade I listed building.

Walter Kerr Hamilton, Bishop of Salisbury, established Salisbury Theological College in 1860 – buying the house (then No. 87) from Charlotte Wyndham – and the first students arrived in January 1861.