Marlborough, Wiltshire - Kingsbury Street - Judges postcard 1957

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Marlborough (i/'m??lbr?/ mawl-br?)[2] is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire on the Old Bath Road, the old main road from London to Bath. It boasts the second widest high street in Britain, after Stockton-on-Tees. The town is on the river Kennet

The earliest sign of human habitation is a 62 feet (19 m) high prehistoric tumulus in the grounds of Marlborough College. Recent radiocarbon dating has found it to date from about 2400 BC.[3] It is of similar age to the larger Silbury Hill about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of the town. Legend has it that the Mound is the burial site of Merlin[4] and that the name of the town, Marlborough comes from Merlin's Barrow. On John Speed's map of Wiltshire (1611), the town's name is recorded as Marlinges boroe. The town's motto is Ubi nunc sapientis ossa Merlini - Where now are the bones of wise Merlin.[5] More plausibly, the town's name probably derives from the medieval term for chalky ground ""marl"" – thus ""town on chalk"".

Further evidence of human occupation comes from the discovery of the Marlborough Bucket, an Iron Age burial bucket, with decorations of human heads and animals on sheet bronze, on display at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes.

Roman remains and coins have been found two miles to the east of Marlborough, at Mildenhall (Cunetio). A later Saxon settlement grew up around The Green and two early river crossings were made at Isbury Lane and Stonebridge Lane.

In 1067 William the Conqueror assumed control of the Marlborough area and set about building a wooden motte and bailey castle, sited on the prehistoric mound. This was completed in around 1100. Stone was used to strengthen the castle in around 1175. The first written record of Marlborough dates from the Domesday Book in 1087. William also established a mint in Marlborough, which coined the William I and the early William II silver pennies. The coins display the name of the town as Maerlebi or Maerleber.

He also established the neighbouring Savernake Forest as a favourite Royal hunting ground[6] and Marlborough Castle became a Royal residence. Henry I observed Easter here in 1110. Henry II stayed at Marlborough Castle in talks with the King of Scotland. His son, Richard I (Coeur de Lion) gave the castle to his brother John, in 1186. King John was married here and spent time in Marlborough. He even established a Treasury.

In 1204 King John granted Charter to the Borough which permitted an annual eight-day fair, commencing on 14 August, the vigil of the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (15 August), in which ""all might enjoy the liberties and quittances customary in the fair at Winchester"". He also established that weekly markets may be held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. These continue to this day.[7]

Later Henry III was also married here.[8] Henry III held Parliament here, in 1267, when the Statute of Marlborough was passed (this gave rights and privileges to small land owners and limited the right of the King to take possession of land). This seven-hundred-year-old law states that no-one shall seize his neighbour's goods for alleged wrong without permission of the Court. Apart from Charters, it is the oldest statute in English law which has not yet been repealed.

The castle fell into disrepair by the end of the 14th century but remained Crown property. Edward VI then passed it to the Seymour family, his mother's relatives. In 1498 Thomas Wolsey was ordained priest in (the now redundant) St Peter's church. He later rose to become a cardinal and Lord Chancellor.

In 1642 Marlborough's peace was shattered by the English Civil War. The Seymours held the Castle for the King but the Town was for Parliament. With his headquarters in nearby Oxford, King Charles had to deal with Marlborough. ""A Town the most notoriously disaffected of all that Country, otherwise, saving the obstinacy and malice of the inhabitants, in the situation of it very unfit for a garrison... this place the King saw would prove quickly an ill neighbour to him, not only as it was in the heart of a rich County, and so would straighten him, and even infest his quarters.""

The King sent Lord Digby to take the town who left Oxford, the head of four hundred horses, 24 November 1642. When he arrived, he chose to parley first, thus giving the inhabitants a chance to prepare defences and to recruit troops. They mustered about seven hundred poorly armed men. At this point, the town issued a reply to Digby: ""The King's Majesty, providing he were attended in Royal and not in war like wise, should be as welcome to that town as ever was Prince to People; but as to delivering up the good Town of Marlborough to such a traitor as Lord Digby ... they would sooner die"". After some early skirmishes, Royalist troops infiltrated the town down its small alleyways. The town was captured and looted and many buildings were set ablaze. One hundred and twenty prisoners were marched in chains to Oxford. The town was later abandoned by the King and took no further part in the war.

On 28 April 1653 the Great Fire of Marlborough started in a tanner's yard and spread quickly eventually after four hours burning the Guildhall, St Mary’s Church the County Armoury, and two hundred and forty four houses[9] to the ground.[10] Fire swept through the Town again in 1679 and again in 1690. This time, an Act of Parliament was passed ""to prohibit the covering of houses and other buildings with thatch in the Town of Marlborough"".[11] During the rebuilding of the town after the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653 which destroyed almost the entire town, the high street became what is often claimed to be the widest in England though the actual widest is in Stockton-on-Tees. This wide street allows ample space for the local market.

In 1804 the Marlborough White Horse was cut by boys from Mr Greasley's Academy in the High Street.

The town is at the heart of the Church of England Marlborough Deanery in the Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The Rural Dean has responsibility for the Benefices of Marlborough, Ridgeway, Upper Kennet and Whitton which in total comprise 16 parishes. Of the town's two Church of England parish churches, St Peter's has been made redundant and converted into an Arts Centre. St Mary's remains in use for worship.

The late renowned jockey Sir Gordon Richards is buried in the new cemetery on Marlborough Common,the second of two such cemeteries to be opened after the two churchyards stopped being used for burials.