Constable made many drawings of Stonehenge and the earthworks of Old Sarum while on trips to Salisbury. He also painted an oil sketch at Old Sarum in 1829 which was the basis for this print. The strong contrasts of light and shade, heightened by the mezzotint process, emphasise the drama of the ancient setting. Old Sarum was the location of England's first parliament, though in Constable's life-time notorious as a 'rotten borough'. In his publication English Landscape Constable emphasised the contrast between the former greatness of the city and its present 'wild, desolate, and dreary' appearance.