Tower and Town, June 2016 (view the full edition)Editorial: The Bath RoadMarlborough is blessed to stand on one of the country's iconic roads - the Great Road to Bath. As described later it only achieved this status in the eighteenth century, but having done so it was progressively improved until it was one of the finest in the nation carrying particularly glamorous coaching traffic. It was also the road which saw the first trials of mail coaches in place of the postboys and was the proving ground for the early bicycle makers, and many of their athletic customers. But the railways put an end to all this - except for the cycling at the end of the nineteenth century. Through traffic pretty much disappeared until motor cars became more common in the 1920s and 30s. But even this was mostly summer traffic until car heaters became standard fittings in the 1960s. But as the A4 (as it had been numbered in the 1920s) became increasingly important the Ministry of Transport contemplated pulling down St Peter's church to speed traffic through the High Street. The Ministry also explored evicting the Mop Fairs from the High Street to stop its twice a year closure. Fortunately these plans came to nothing until the M4 was built, by which time the need had gone away. So we are left with a road with a rich history and many fine coaching inns passing through the town.Alexander Kirk Wilson |