Marlborough
 Castles |
The historic market town of Marlborough straddles the former stagecoach route from London to Bath, lying beside the swift-flowing River Kennet on the southern fringes of the Marlborough Downs. The town is generally thought to have inherited its name from Maerl's Barrow , an ancient burial chamber now found within the grounds of the famous Marlborough College public school. Alternative suggestions include Marle Burg , meaning chalk town, or the more fanciful view that it is a corruption of the semi-mythical Merlin. After the Norman invasion of Britain in the mid 11 th century, William the Conqueror had a castle built at Maerl's Barrow, to which a number of early English kings came when hunting in the great Forest of Savernake to the south. At one time, coins were minted here and in 1267 Henry III summoned parliament to the castle. Jane Seymour's son Edward VI later gifted the castle to the Seymour family.
The Seymour's lived at nearby Savernake and it was here that Henry VIII, whilst on a hunting visit, is reputed to have met Sir John Seymour's daughter Jane. In the 17 th century Inigo Jones' pupil, John Webb, reconstructed the original castle as a house; Samuel Pepys became a regular visitor to the newly rebuilt home. Much later, around 1700, the house was converted into the Castle Inn when it became one of the most popular staging inns on the busy route from London to Bath and Bristol. When the railways took away the trade from the coaches in the early 19 th century, staging posts like the Castle Inn fell into decline and eventually closed their doors. In 1813, at the inception of Marlborough College, it was incorporated into and became the nucleus of the new school.
Despite having suffered three disastrous fires in 1653, 1679 and 1690, Marlborough still possesses one of the most attractive main streets in the country. Reputedly the widest in Europe, little has changed in the town's High Street, except the Town Hall, since the 19 th century, as an engraving from 1860 reveals. This broad thoroughfare is still lined with handsome Tudor houses and Georgian colonnaded shops, behind which are many fascinating back alleys with quaint, medieval half-timbered cottages that escaped the worst of the three fires in 1653. Like religious guardians of their flock two fine Perpendicular churches stand attentively, one at each end of the main street. At the London end of the street is St Mary's Church from which a curfew bell is rung each evening; standing in from the church is the attractive town hall built on the site of the old market house. A narrow passage way behind St Mary's leads to the Green, the site of an ancient Saxon settlement and the place where the local Sheep Fairs were held until 1893. At the other end of the High Street stands the well-proportioned tower of St Peter's, incorporating a Norman doorway. This church was declared redundant some years ago and was in danger of collapsing until local townsfolk saved it; it does however, retain a side chapel for worship. St Peters incorporates the tourist information office that has produced an excellent leaflet - ‘Marlborough, a Guided Walk' - undoubtedly, the best way to explore the old town is on foot. There is still a weekly market in the High Street and each October the ‘Mop Fair is held to commemorate the old ‘hiring market', an annual gathering where trades people looking for work would stand in the market holding tools of their trade. An enclosed arched bridge stands at the western end of the town leading to the famous public school of Marlborough College. The town has attracted tourists since the days of the stagecoach and has a selection of excellent inns and hotels.
On the Downlands around Marlborough are many prehistoric remains including Barbury Castle, an Iron-Age hill-fort covering some 12 acres. It stands on the Ridgeway, part of a prehistoric track running 250 miles from South Devon to the Wash. West Kennet Long Barrow is a prehistoric burial place over 4500 years old, where massive sarsen stones guard the largest chambered tomb in England. Nearby, Silbury Hill is the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe, possibly the burial place of King Sil; it was constructed in four stages between 2500 and 100BC. Less than a mile to the north is the ancient settlement of Avebury, situated at the heart of one of the most intriguing megalithic monuments in Europe. A hugely important 28-acre site, the village stands at the centre of a ring of sarsen stones almost a mile in circumference, dating from about 3700BC.
Two miles to the south-east of Marlborough, the magnificent Savernake Forest has been a royal hunting forest since pre-Norman times. The 2000 acres, which survive today, are leased to the Forestry Commission by the Marquess of Aylesbury, and are now a haven for deer, wild birds and rare plants; it is also renowned for its massive oaks, beeches and Spanish chestnuts. In the 18 th century Capability Brown was responsible for cutting the broad straight swathe through the trees, known as Grand Avenue, and for the striking circus at its midpoint from which eight forest walks radiate out following the points of the compass.