[3] Road access to the city was improved in 1244 by the building of Ayleswade bridge, in two sections across an island in the Avon, leading traffic from the south through Harnham instead of the older route to the west through Wilton.

[7][8] Parts of the medieval almshouses survive, including two chapels,[9] and the site continues to provide sheltered housing for a Christian community.

[10] The manors of East and West Harnham were still owned by the 13th-century College of the Valley Scholars, which stood next to St Nicholas Hospital, when it was dissolved in 1542.

[11] In 1848, Samuel Lewis (publisher) described the settlement in a topographical dictionary based partly on 1841 census statistics: East Harnham was anciently a tithing in the parish of Britford.

They are part of an extensive irrigation system of floated water meadows, dating from the mid-seventeenth century.

Now a Site of Special Scientific Interest known as East Harnham Meadows, they are still used for grazing and were voted the Best View in Britain by Country Life magazine in 2002.

[20] In the 13th century, Salisbury sited its new Cathedral on the flat fertile plain encircled by the Avon and protected by Harnham Hill, a chalk escarpment which rises steeply to the south.

The upper slope is now managed as a public amenity space which, from its highest point, offers views across Harnham to the city, including the cathedral's spire.

The suburb is near the Britford park and ride site, where regular Salisbury Reds bus services connect the area to the city centre.

He was responsible in the 1850s for the great church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London which broke new ground in its use of brick and of extensive polychromy detailing.

[5] Dating from the 12th century, this Grade I listed building[38] in the lower part of West Harnham has details around its doors and windows from 1250.

The building was converted in the 16th century from ecclesiastical use to Wiltshire's first paper mill, when the River Nadder was diverted to flow under it.

In the early 20th century, the property was converted into a country club by Mary Fox-Pitt, daughter-in-law of Augustus Pitt Rivers.

There is accommodation at a number of local hotels and bed & breakfasts, making the area popular with both UK and overseas visitors.