The news has leaked out that Wiltshire Council plan to celebrate Magna Carta in Salisbury. For anyone with any knowledge of the city that seems most strange since neither Salisbury, nor the cathedral, existed in 1215 when Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede.

What seems even more contrary is that the one town in Wiltshire with a direct connection to Magna Carta is our county town of Trowbridge. Trowbridge was the headquarters for one of the 25 barons who were to enforce Magna Carta. That baron was Henry de Bohun and he was actually at Runnymede, which is why his statue is in the House of Lords. Without the barons there would be no Magna Carta.

In Trowbridge can be seen St James’ Church which de Bohun built, and part of the original building is still visible.

So why is Wiltshire Council ignoring the one place which does have genuine Magna Carta credentials and going instead to a place that actually did not exist in 1215 – and whose only link to Magna Carta is that the man who distributed copies of the charter around the country happened to have a spare copy and was later involved in building Salisbury Cathedral?

D M Colcomb, Roundway Park, Devizes.