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Whilst Salisbury’s population grew from 7,700 to 17,100 during the nineteenth century, that increase was largely taken up by employment sectors reflecting the city’s character the service industries of the railways, the hotel trade, hospitals and schools. By 1899 there were ten national and church schools, and ten independent schools, and now fewer than five colleges. The Fisherton House Lunatic Asylum was the largest private asylum in the country. Meanwhile, developments in ordnance and side arms necessitated an enormous tract of land for the Army’s peace-time manoeuvres, and the acquisition of Salisbury Plain for this purpose provided Salisbury with another market in the tourism sector.
The result, for Salisbury, was a spate of growth which took it from its original medieval confines to about half-way to its present size, in area as in its population. The main areas of development were firstly over the west-facing slope of Milford Hill, and the area between the London Road and Castle Street, these being the estate around the Wyndhams’ Salisbury home, sold up in 1871. Secondly, because of the rail, brewing, brickmaking and gas industries to the west of the city, there was another area of residential development around the Wilton and Devizes Roads, and at the western end of Fisherton Street and on the Church Fields.
The twentieth century saw Salisbury’s prosperity and enterprise continuing, with such ventures as the Burden Brothers’ Scout Motor Company. There were blows, such as the railway crash of 1st July 1906, which with the loss of 28 lives foreshadowed more recent disasters, and the five of Salisbury who died with the sinking of the Titanic, but the Great War, with its toll of 459 was to set the city’s course for much of the ensuing century. Among the saddest losses in economic terms, was the failure of the Scout Motor Company in 1921, but the post-war economic depression overshadowed the 1920s and much of the 1930s throughout the city. One solution both to the housing and employment shortages was the building of council houses from 1920 to 1930, matched by private development mainly between the Castle and London Roads. Gradually other opportunities developed, with the development of the motor trade, the leisure and entertainment industries, and with national enterprises setting up offices in Salisbury from Hoover and the Anglo-American Oil Company, to Fyffes, Walls and the British Sugar Corporation.
The Second World War had little direct impact on Salisbury, with evacuations from Portsmouth and a handful of air raids, but with new specialist industries arriving. One of these, Wellworthy, remained in Salisbury until 2000. As has been the case in the past, Salisbury’s industry has tended towards niche markets and high added value which nowadays translates into light engineering with a slant towards high technology, characterised by firms such as Janspeed (motor tuning) and Naim (hi-fi). With businesses such as these and in the (commercial) information sectors insurance, estate agency, finance and management consultancy, and good communications to London, Salisbury continues to be a popular place to live, and continuing housing development has resulted in concomitant population growth from 33,000 in 1951 to 42,700 today. This growth has had an impact on the infrastructure, and, with the meteoric rise in car ownership, on the road network in particular. The burning issue of Salisbury’s perceived traffic problems have been resolved for the time being by the judicious construction of an inner ring-road (1962-1969).