Discovering Marlborough's History: around the High Street
“Discovering Marlborough’s History: Around the High Street” introduces the town’s fascinating past.
Beginning at the Tourist Information Point in the George Lane car park (SN8 1BE), the High Street is reached via the town’s Priory Gardens, the site of a medieval Carmelite Friary.
Notable for its diverse range of building styles: the prevalence of Georgian reflects Marlborough’s wealth during the golden age of coaching, which saw up to 44 changes of horses daily.
The 1653 great fire began in a tannery, now “The Wellington” inn, destroying most of the High Street.
Marlborough had been sacked by a Royalist army in 1642 determined to teach Marlborough’s “notoriously discontented” people a lesson. It was thanks to the Protector Cromwell that it was rebuilt after the fire.
Opposite the town hall, with its fancy stone facings, is Chandler’s Yard, where the walk finishes (SN8 1HT).
The ancient, timber-framed buildings here connect us with the medieval town. We can almost smell Marlborough’s deep history.
More information
The walk covers generally flat terrain with a few very gentle gradients. It involves easy walking throughout and is suitable for wheelchair users. Dogs are welcome provided they are kept fully under control.
The length of the walk is approximately 0.75 mile. The duration is one hour.
Public toilet facilities (20p charge) are available at the start of the walk next to the Tourist Infomation point in the George Lane car park.
See sketch map below for details of the route.
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Discovering Marlborough's History: the River Kennet, The Parade, and The Green
“Discovering Marlborough’s History; the River Kennet, The Parade, and The Green” follows the river before exploring the ancient part of the town dominated by St Mary’s church. The walk begins at the Tourist Information Point at the George Lane car park (SN8 1BE).
This is chalk downland country. Water meadows enabled early spring grasses to feed sheep. Watermills milled flour to make bread: some operated stocks to full woollen cloth.
Flanked by the former rope works, congregational church, and grammar school, “The Marsh” was renamed “The Parade” after rifle volunteers who “paraded” here in the nineteenth century.
Once the place where timber was sawed and sheep fairs held, The Green is at the heart of historic Marlborough. William Golding lived here as a boy, one can only wonder if inspiration for “Lord of Flies” came from Grammar school, or College boys.
Rebuilt as a puritan preaching house during the English Republic, from the ashes of the 1653 fire, St Mary’s church is quintessential Marlborough, its attractive ashlar tower completing the scene. The walk finishes here (SN8 1JE).
More information
The walk covers generally flat terrain with a few gentle gradients. It involves easy walking throughout and is suitable for wheelchair users. Dogs are welcome provided they are kept fully under control.
The length of the walk is approximately 0.75 mile. The duration is one hour.
Public toilet facilities (20p charge) are available at the start of the walk next to the Tourist Infomation point in the George Lane car park.
See sketch map below for details of the route.
Treacle Bolly and the Margins of the River Kennet
The walk begins and finishes at the Tourist Information Point at the George Lane car park in Marlborough (postcode SN8 1BE). The TIP is next to the public toilets (20p charge).
The walk is approximately 1.75 miles long and 2 hours in duration. It is of a gentle pace involving generally flat terrain. There are possible muddy stretches and stone and gravel paths. Approximately half of the walk is on pavements and metalled surfaces.
The walk passes the River Kennet before following George Lane to cross the Pewsey Road by the river bridge. Treacle Bolly is entered via a footpath where the site of a former water mill can be discerned, as can the place where sheep were once washed. The King’s Mill, or Castle Mill, was connected with a once great Medieval Castle. The motte, known as The Mound, overlooks the margins of the Kennet. This path, and the high ground above it became known as “Treacle Bolly” through a 19th century miller who rode his donkey here. His exhortation, “Get up there, old treacle belly!” was heard by Marlborough College boys who named a pudding, “Treacle Bolly” after it: the name stuck.
Granham Hill White Horse can be seen before the path reaches the road leading to St George’s Church, Preshute. Inside is a huge high-status black font made from Tournai marble dating back to the 12thcentury. It is highly likely it was moved here from the Chapel of St Nicholas in Marlborough Castle. It compares with fonts in Winchester and Lincoln cathedrals.
The walk continues across the River Kennet, skirting former water meadows, following the pavement past Marlborough College buildings to reach St Peter’s Church. Thomas Wolsey was ordained priest here in 1498. Despite heavy restoration by T H Wyatt in 1862, the church retains much of its 15th century fabric.
From St Peter’s the walk continues back to the George Lane car park via the High Street and Figgins Lane.
More information
See my sketch back below for the walk route.
Stone, woollen cloth, and rubber – a walk through the history of Bradford-on-Avon
The walk starts at the river terrace by Sweetpea Kitchen (BA15 1EJ) and finishes at Westbury Gardens (BA15 1DE). The walk covers generally flat terrain with a few gentle gradients. It involves easy walking throughout. The length of the walk is approximately half a mile. The duration is one hour. Public toilet facilities are available in St Margaret’s Car Park (BA15 1DE) adjacent to Westbury Gardens at the end of the walk (see map left for route and walk stops).
The walk begins by identifying Bradford-on-Avon as a town built from Cotswold stone on a “broad ford” over the River Avon. The bridge, with its curious lockup, has a long history. The woollen cloth industry dominated the town for half a millennium. There were 32 mills here in the early 19th century. But by the 1840’s the industry had collapsed.
Stephen Moulton’s use of the factories to manufacture rubber rescued the town from oblivion, providing jobs for a hundred and fifty years. The rubber industry in ended in 1995, the sites of the former factories developed into retail and residential units.
Former clothiers' houses are plentiful. There is a wealth of architecture, not just centred on the Georgian period. The Victorian Town Hall was designed by Thomas Fuller of Bath who went on to design the Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa.
Holy Trinity Church dates from the 12th century but older still is the Anglo-Saxon Church of St Laurence constructed at the beginning of the 11th century. Its flying angels alone mark this as a unique and special place.
The walk finishes by Westbury House in Westbury Gardens the scene of a riot in 1791 when a mob of 500 demanded the destruction of a carding machine held there. Carding, preparing wool for spinning, was work relied on by local people. Guns were fired from the house killing a man, a woman, and a boy. A jury returned a verdict of “justifiable defence”.
Calne: a walk through the History of a Cloth and Bacon Town
The walk starts by Church House in Church Street at the northern entrance to St Mary's churchyard (SN11 0HU). The route encompasses Church Street; St Mary’s Church; Kingsbury Street; The Green, famous for its historic clothiers’ houses and workshops; and continues to the High Street ending at the Pig Sculpture at the entrance to Phelps Parade (SN11 0HA). The length of the walk is approximately 0.75 of a mile. It is timed to last an hour.
Devizes: a walk through the Wild West
The walk starts by the Estcourt Fountain on the Market Place. The Fountain is close to the Black Swan Hotel (SN10 1JQ). The route encompasses the Market Place, St John’s Street, St John's Church, St John’s churchyard, The Brittox, part of Maryport Street and Monday Market Street, and part of New Park Street. The walk ends at the point where Snuff Street enters the Market Place. The length of the walk is approximately 0.75 of a mile. It is timed to last an hour.
Themed walk
In the Footsteps of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: what Calne was like two hundred years ago
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the great Romantic poet, lived in Calne with his friends in a rented house from November 1814 to March 1816 whilst recovering from a laudanum-induced mental breakdown. He wrote his life work, the “Biographia Literaria”, and had his play, “Remorse”, performed here. Coleridge would have known St Mary’s church; the Lansdowne Coaching Inn, then known as “The Wheel”; the Bentley Free School; the canal wharf; and the sites of the old town hall, the town mill and millpond, the wooden bridge over the River Marden, and Thomas Bishop’s druggists where Coleridge obtained his laudanum. Coleridge benefitted greatly from living in Calne and drew inspiration from it and the surrounding area. St Mary’s church reminded Coleridge of his childhood in Ottery St Mary, Devon. The walk starts opposite the house where Coleridge lived by Church House (SN11 0HU) at the northern entrance to St Mary’s churchyard and ends at the Pig Sculpture in Phelps Parade (SN11 0HA). The walk starts outside. The length of the walk is approximately 0.75 of a mile. It is timed to last an hour.