MARLBOROUGH, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction,
though locally in the hundred of Selkley, county of WILTS, 27 miles
(N. by E.) from Salisbury, and 75 (W. by S.) from London, and
containing 3038 inhabitants. The name, anciently written Marleberg,
or Marlbridge, is supposed to be derived from the marl, or chalk,
hills by which the town is surrounded. Camden supposed this
to have been the Cunetio of Antoninus, but more recent
researches induced Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart, to place that
station at Folly Farm, about a mile and a half eastward
from the town, where that celebrated antiquary discovered
a tesselated pavement, and other relics of a Roman
settlement. At the time of the Norman survey Marlborough
had a church, and was held in royal demesne, soon
after which period a castle was erected, which seems to
have been the cause of the subsequent enlargement of the
town. In the time of Richard I., and during his Imprisonment
in Austria, his brother John took possession
of this fortress but on Richard's return from captivity,
he seized it, with all the other possessions belonging to
his brother, and on their reconciliation he still retained
the castle of Marlborough in his own possession. During
the subsequent reign, King John occasionally kept
his court here; and in the civil war of this period, Marlborough
was possessed alternately by the king and the
barons: it seems, indeed, to have been the occasional
residence of subsequent sovereigns till the time of
Henry VII., and to have formed part of the dowries
of several queens. The assizes were held here from
the time of Henry III. to that of Charles I.; and in the
52nd of Henry III. that parliament assembled here by
which were enacted the laws relative to the police of the
kingdom, and to the administration of justice, commonly
called the " Statutes of Marlebridge." The castle,
borough, &c., were granted by Henry VIII. to Edward,
Duke of Somerset, and became forfeited to the crown
on the attainder of that nobleman, in the reign of Edward
VI., but were subsequently restored to the Somerset
family, and have now descended, by intermarriage,
to the Marquis of Ailesbury. Even in Camden's time,
a few fragments only of the castle were remaining; a
large house, now the Castle Inn, which occupies its site,
is said to have been commenced by the first duke of
Somerset of the Seymour family, and was improved by
the Earl of Hertford, in the early part of the eighteenth
century: the old keep has been converted into a
spiral walk, in the grotto of which, Mrs. Rowe wrote
the most celebrated of her works, "Friendship in
Death; " and here also Thompson is said to have composed
a great part of his " Seasons," when on a visit
to the Earl of Hertford, one of the most distinguished
patrons of literature of that age. In the civil war between
Charles I. and the parliament, the latter had a
garrison here under the Earl of Essex; bxit the royal
army, commanded by Lieut. Gen. Wilmot, marching
hither from Oxford, in December 1642, captured above
one thousand prisoners, besides large stores of arms and
ammunition, with all which they returned in safety to
that city. Marlborough having suffered repeatedly from
fire prior to the year 1690, an act of parliament was
passed in that year to prohibit the use of thatch as a
covering for houses and other buildings within the borough.
The town is delightfully situated on the banks of
the Rennet, on the northern verge of the Forest of
Savernake, and on the north of it are the open downs;
it consists principally of one long street, running from
east to west, which is paved, and lighted with gas; the
older houses are constructed of wood, and ornamented
in front with curious carved work,- the more modern
are of stone and brick. On the north side of the
principal street is a piazza projecting in front of the
houses, serving for a promenade in wet weather; and
at its eastern extremity is a market-house, erected on
the site of a former one, by the corporation, in 1790:
the upper story is divided into a council-chamber, an
assembly-room, and a court-room. The inhabitants
are well supplied with water. The manufactures are
inconsiderable: the trade is principally in corn, coal,
and malt, and considerable advantages arise from the
situation of the town on a great thoroughfare. The
Kennet and Avon canal passes within five miles of the
town, and in consequence of its not passing through
it, the inhabitants' have the privilege of a draw-back
upon the tonnage of goods. The market days are
Wednesday and Saturday; the former market has much
declined, being now only for vegetables; the latter is
considerable, and has long been celebrated for its extensive
supply of grain, cheese, butchers' meat, &c.: fairs
are held July llth, for horses and wool; August 22nd,
for lambs, horses, and cows; and November 23rd, for
sheep, horses, and cows.
Marlborough is a borough by prescription, and in a
charter granted by Elizabeth, after referring to numerous
preceding charters, the corporation is designated
tinder the style of "The Mayor and Burgesses;" they
are self-elected, and the present number is thirteen. The
mayor (who is also coroner, clerk of the market, and escheator)
and two of the burgesses are justices of the
peace, and, with a town clerk, a chamberlain, two bailiffs,
or Serjeants at mace, and two high constables, are
chosen annually by the corporation: the mayor and
justices hold quarter sessions for the .borough. The
county bridewell and house of correction was erected in
1787: it comprises four day-rooms and airing-yards,
and is chiefly occupied by prisoners previously to trial.
Courts leet are held by the corporation, at the Lent and
Michaelmas sessions, at which five constables (formerly
called aldermen) are appointed, one for each ward; and
a court, called the King's court, for the recovery of debts
to any amount, is held every three weeks, under the
charter of the 6th of John. The privilege of sending
members to parliament has been exercised ever since
the 23rd of Edward I., and the right of election is in
the mayor and burgesses: the mayor is the returning
officer: the predominant influence is possessed by the
Marquis of Ailesbury. In the election of 1826 an effort
was made to throw open the borough, and the subject
was referred to a committee appointed by the House of
Commons, who decided that the members returned by
the corporation were duly elected; another attempt has
recently been made, two members having been nominated
by the opposing party in the election of 1830,
and who have expressed their intention of trying the
question a second time.
Marlborough comprises the two parishes of St. Mary
the Virgin and St. Peter and St. Paul, within the peculiar
jurisdiction of the Consistorial Episcopal Court
of Salisbury: they are divided into five wards, viz.,
the Green ward and Marsh ward, in St. Mary's parish;
the High ward and Bailey ward, in the parish of St.
Peter and St. Paul; and Kingsbury ward, in both parishes.
The living of St. Mary's is a discharged vicarage,
rated in the king's books at £10. 9 4., endowed
with £400 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty,
and £500 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage
of the Dean of Salisbury; the church, a neat edifice of
brick, with an ancient stone tower, beneath which is
a Norman doorway, sustained considerable damage during
the civil war, in 1641. The living of the parish
of St. Peter and St. Paul is a discharged rectory, rated
in the king's books at £12, endowed with £400 private
benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £300 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury;
the church, which stands at the western extremity
of the main street, has a lofty square tower with
battlements and pinnacles; the nave is supported
by light pillars. There are places of worship for Huntmgtonians,
Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists.
The free grammar school was founded and endowed
with the revenue of the dissolved hospital of St. John,
by grant of Edward VI. to the mayor and burgesses who
were also empowered to make rules for its government:
the nomination of the schoolmaster, originally given to
the Duke of Somerset, is now exercised by the Marquis
of Ailesbury; the income is from £200 to £300 per annum;
the children of parents who have resided seven
years in the town are alone eligible according to the
rules, and the number of scholars on the foundation is
in general about twenty. The scholars share, alternately
with those of the free schools of Manchester and Hereford,
in sixteen exhibitions at Brasenose College, Oxford,
and sixteen scholarships at St. John's College, Cambridge,
founded by Sarah, Duchess of Somerset, in 1679;
and Mrs. Brown bequeathed a rent-charge of £5 for
any poor scholar from this school to the University
of Oxford. A National school is supported by voluntary
contributions: the school-rooms were erected
at the expense of the late Earl of Ailesbury. An almshouse
was formerly supported from the funds of the corporation,
to which several donations and bequests were
made for its support in the reign of Charles II., when
it was rebuilt at the expense of that body, but, in 17'25,
they conveyed it to the officers of St. Mary's parish,
by whom it is at present used as a workhouse. Northward
from the town is a common, on which each householder
has a right to turn two milch cows; and eastward
of it is a close, of about eighty acres of arable
ground, of which a certain portion is granted to each
member of the corporate body during his own life and
the widowhood of his wife, on the payment of a sum
by way of fine, and a fixed rent; the cows of the commoners
are depastured on the eighty acres after the
harvest; and the inhabitants have an ancient privilege
of turning two horses, from Old May-day to Old
Martinmas-day, into the adjacent Forest of Savernake.
The monastic institutions here were, a Gilbertine priory,
dedicated to St. Margaret, founded in the reign of John,
the revenue of which, at the dissolution, was £38.19.2.-
a convent of White friars, founded in 1316 by the merchants
of this town; St. John's hospital, founded in the
reign of Henry II.; and St. Thomas' in that of Henry III.,
and annexed to the priory of St. Margaret in the reigii
of Richard II. A chapel and other portions of the
priory were standing a few years since. Among the
distinguished natives of this town' the following may
be specified; Henry of Marlborough, an English historian
of the fourteenth century; Sir Michael Foster,
an eminent lawyer, and one of the judges of the Court
of King's Bench, born in 1689; Walter Harte, poet
and historian, who died in 1773; Dr. Henry Sacheverell,
of political celebrity, born in 1672, during the incumbency
of his father in. the parish of St. Peter,and
St. Paul; and John Hughes, a poet, and one of the
writers in the Spectator, born in 1677. Marlborough
confers the title of duke on the family of Spencer
Churchill.