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Marlborough, Wiltshire

Historical Description

Marlborough, a market-town, a municipal borough, and two parishes in Wilts. The town stands on the river Kennet, at the terminus of a branch railway, in a valley of the chalk range between Marlborough Downs and Savernake-Forest, near the site of the Roman station Cunetio, 17 miles E by S of Chippenham, and 26 N by E of Salisbury. It has stations on the G.W.R. and the Midland and South-Western Junction railway, 76 miles from London. The branch railway deflects to it from the Berks and Hants Extension at Savernake station, is 5½ miles long, was authorized in 1861 and opened in 1864, and was formed on a capital of £45,000 in shares and £15,000 in loan. The name Marlborough was anciently written Marleberg, Marlbridge, Mearlesberg, and Mearleasbeorg, and is derived from three words-Mar, "boundary;" leak, or lea, " cattle-run;" beorg or berg, " a hill or barrow," - " the cattle-run on the boundary by the mound." The site of the Roman Cunetio is at Folly Farm, and has yielded, considerable Roman relics, but cannot be soberly imagined to have bad any connection with the origin or early history of the town. Neither any record nor any vestige of antiquity exists to show that any town was here in even the Saxon times. The manor at Domesday belonged to the Crown, and had a church. A strong castle was built here in the time of Henry I. by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, made a stand for the Empress Maud against King Stephen, passed to Stephen only after his arms were everywhere else victorious, was seized by John during the time of Richard I.'s imprisonment in Germany, was retaken for Richard by Archbishop Hubert, was possessed alternately by the king and by his opponents in the-barons' wars, became a royal residence in the time of Henry III., was the meeting-place in 1267 of the parliament which enacted the laws known as the "statutes of Marlbridge," was visited in 1358 by Edward III. and his queen, and went to ruin at some unrecorded period prior to the time of Henry VIII. Only a few fragments of its walls remained when Camden wrote his " Britannia," and a mound (the beorg or berg, the last syllable of the name of the borough) in the garden of Marlborough College, long regarded as a sepulchral barrow, is now known to mark the site of its keep, and forms its only existing vestige. The town was a place of assize from the passing of the "statutes of Marlbridge " till the time of Charles I. The manor was given by Henry VIII. to the Duke of Somerset, and descended by intermarriage to the Marquis of Ailesbury. A large mansion was built on the site of the castle by Sir Francis Seymour, grandson of the Duke of Somerset, and afterwards created Lord Seymour; and was held in 1643 for the Parliament by Sir Nevile Poole, giving accommodation in the following year to Charles I. and his staff. It was visited after the restoration by Charles II. and his queen, and became in the early part of the 18th century the residence of the Earl and Countess of Hereford, being then an hospitable resort of Thomson, Pope, and Dr Watts, and other literary notabilities; was changed in later years into a great inn, called the Castle Inn, long famous as a stage on the road from London to Bath, and, with additions and appendages of modern erection, is now Marlborough College.

Some curious antiquities, particularly a cromlech called the Devil's Den, a great artificial mound called Silbury Hill, a Celtic camp on Martensell Hill, traces of the Wans dyke on the Downs between Walker's Hill and Heddington, and remains of the great serpent temple of Avebury, are in the neighbourhood. Henry of Marlborough, the historian, who flourished during the early part of the 15th century; John Hughes, author of the "Siege of Damascus," and one of the writers in the Spectator; Dr Henry Sacheverell, Walter Hart, the poet, friend of Pope and biographer of Gustavus Adolphus; Sir Michael Foster, the lawyer; and Fowler and two Sedgewicks, the theologians, were natives of Marlborough.

Thomson the poet wrote in it his "Spring;" Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Lord High Treasurer to James I., died in it; Chief-Justice Ley took from it the title of Earl; and the family of Churchill take from it the title of Duke.

The town consists chiefly of one long street, called High Street, extending from E to W, terminating on the E by the town-hall and St Mary's Church-on the W by Marlborough College and St Peter's Church; and several lateral streets, diverging from High Street and carried across the Kennet by a bridge. It is irregularly built, which increases the picturesque character of the town. It suffered much injury in old times from fires, and an act of parliament passed in the reign of William and Mary forbade the existence in it of any thatched buildings. Most of its houses are of brick, and some are ancient and have picturesque gables, carved timbers, and scaly coats of tile-work. High Street forms an airy thoroughfare, and has a piazza, called "the pent house," extending along much of its more elevated side. The town-hall was erected in 1790 on the site of a previous edifice, is disposed as a market-house in the basement, and includes a council-chamber, a court-room, and an assembly-room. The public reading-room in High Street was opened in 1854, and has attached to it a library belonging to a mutual improvement society. St Mary's Church has a Norman doorway, and was considerably damaged during the Civil War of Charles I. It is now mainly modern, the nave being rebuilt during the Commonwealth, and the chancel in 1874. St Peter's Church, which is the original church of the town and a rectory, has a lofty pinnacled tower and a remarkably good groined stone ceiling of Late Perpendicular work over the chancel. The S porch with its chamber is worthy of notice. The church has been restored. There are Congregational, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist chapels.

Marlborough College was established in 1845 for liberally educating sons of clergymen on economical terms, underwent modification in 1849 by a second charter which allows one-half of the pupils to be sons of laymen, and has attached to it a more recent school for pupils not intended to go to the universities. As already stated, the original building was at one time a mansion of the Seymours, and afterwards converted into the Castle Inn, which became practically useless in consequence of the opening of the Great Western railway. No site could have been better chosen; the situation on the side of the Downs was eminently healthy, the old Queen Anne House formed an admirable nucleus for further buildings, and thus it came about that by the year 1848 an additional house had been erected, and also a chapel, the architect of which was Mr Blore. This chapel cost between £6000 and £7000, and was being continually improved at considerable cost until it was found to be too small for the size of the school. It was pulled down and the new chapel was opened in 1886. In 1883 a block of new buildings, containing among other things a natural history museum, was added to the school, so that since 1843 the old mansion of the Seymours has become but one block among several. It forms one end of what may be considered in a sense an irregular quadrangle, of which the gates and porter's lodge on the Bath Road form in a sense one side. Another noticeable feature has been the building of masters' houses at a distance in considerable numbers, so that quite a group of dwelling-houses in good taste and well planned is to be seen on what not many years ago was but the bleak edge of a great Wiltshire- down.

The Free Grammar School was founded in 1550 by Edward VI., has £200 a year from endowment and exhibitions at Brasenose College, Oxford, and at St John's College, Cambridge, and had for pupils Walter Harte and Sir Michael Foster. There were in old times a Gilbertine priory founded in the reign of King John, and given at the dissolution to the Stringers; a house of White Friars founded in 1316 by merchants of the town; a Trinitarian Friary, founded in the time of Henry III.; an hospital of St John, founded in the time of Henry II., and appropriated by Edward VI. to the endowing of the grammar school; and an hospital of St Thomas, founded in the time of Henry III., and annexed in that of Richard II. to the Gilbertine Friary-but all have completely disappeared. The Savernake Hospital was established in 1866, and opened in 1872, the site being given by the Marquis of Ailesbury. The workhouse is situated about a mile from the town in Preshute parish.

The town has a head post office and two banks, is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and publishes a weekly newspaper. Fairs are held on 22 Aug. and 23 Nov.; malting, brewing, tanning, rope-making, sacking-making, and wool-stapling are carried on; a large trade exists in country produce; considerable business has arisen in connection with Marlborough College; much stir arises from the town's being a central point for sporting over the surrounding downs, and for angling in the Kennet. The town is a borough by prescription; it ia governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, and sent two members to Parliament till 1867, when it was reduced to one, and by the Redistribution of Seats Act in 1885 its representation was merged in that of the county. The municipal borough comprises the two parishes of Marlborough. Population, 3012.

One of the Marlborough parishes is St Mary, and the other is St Peter and St Paul. Acreage of St Mary, 116; of St Peter and St Paul, 81; population of St Mary, 1695; of St Peter and St Paul, 1317; of the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary, 2149; of St Peter and St Paul, 1317. The surface is much diversified, includes heights with maximum elevation of about 500 feet, and both contains and commands pleasant views. The living of St Mary is a vicarage, and that of St Peter is a rectory, in the diocese of Salisbury; value of St Mary, £170; of St Peter, £230. Patron of both, the Bishop of Salisbury.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyWiltshire 
HundredSelkley 
Poor Law unionMarlborough 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Church Records

The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Marlborough St. Mary's 1602-1812, Wiltshire is available to browse online.

The register of St. Mary dates from the year 1602.

The register of St. Peter and St. Paul dates from the year 1611.


Churches

Church of England

St. Mary the Virgin (parish church)

The church of St. Mary the Virgin, founded in 1160, is an ancient building of stone in the Norman and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing a clock and 6 bells: the chancel was built in 1874, at a cost of about £1,000, from designs by the late G. E. Street esq. R.A.: the organ was erected in 1879: the church contains stained windows to the Merriman, Meyler and May families, and to a son of Captain Manders, who was drowned at Erith when serving on board the training ship "Worcester": a clock, with illuminated dials, was placed in the tower in 1889, at a cost of about £200: the nave, rebuilt in a plain style after the fire of 1653, was improved in 1903 by the removal of the vestry to the base of the tower: the church has sittings for 609 persons.

St. Peter and St. Paul (parish church)

The church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a Perpendicular edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, south porch, and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 9 bells: in the chancel is a marble monument, dated 1627, to Sir Nicholas Hyde knt. Mary his wife, two sons and a daughter; there are ten stained windows: Cardinal Wolsey is said to have been ordained priest in this church, 10 Mar. 1498: the church was repaired in 1863, and affords sittings for 500 persons.

Baptist

Baptist Chapel, St. Martin's

The Baptist chapel, St. Martin's, erected in 1868, has 90 sittings.

Congregational

Congregational Chapel, The Parade

The Congregational chapel, in The Parade, was built in 1817 and enlarged in 1873, and has 400 sittings.

Methodist

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Herd Street

The Primitive Methodist chapel, Herd street, erected in 1841, 200 sittings.

Wesleyan Chapel, New Road

The Wesleyan chapel, New road, opened in 1910, will seat 350 persons.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Marlborough from the following:


Maps

Online maps of Marlborough are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Wiltshire papers online:


Schools

The Marlborough College Register, 1843-1933 is available to browse online.

CountyWiltshire
RegionSouth West
CountryEngland
Postal districtSN8
Post TownMarlborough

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