Tower and Town, August 2022 (view the full edition)Marlborough Lifetime ChangesDuring my lifetime (b. 1955), there have been many changes to Marlborough, not all for the better. I have six older brothers, all still local, who have contributed to this article. The closing of the railway occurred when the last passenger train departed Marlborough 'Low Level' station in 1963. We used to live at the top of Cherry Orchard adjacent to the 'High Level' station, nicknamed The Ark, where wartime movements, animal transfers, a steam engine shed, a goods yard with Bert New's scrapyard all contributed to an interesting and lively upbringing for my brothers. One of my oldest memories was being shown a string of elephants, tail to trunk, walking underneath the bridge, with me looking on them from above, on their way to The Common with the circus. There was a dedicated siding for animals, next to the signal box. One of the busiest times was during the annual Sheep Fair. Youngsters would acquire a stick in order to 'help' with the herding of flocks of sheep from the station to the Common. The town boundaries are under pressure. The railway line marked the southernmost limit of the town until the retail/industrial estate was built off Salisbury Road and Marleberg Grange/ Premier Inn development over the road; I worry about the creep of development towards Savernake Forest and the Westward expansion of the town that now almost engulfs Manton. Luckily, The Common is mostly building free, and northern expansion is thankfully limited.
I was born in Savernake Hospital. Apart from a maternity section, (revamped just before it was closed) there was an operating theatre, a much-used minor injuries unit and several wards for treatment and convalescence for local people, all overseen by doctors from the Marlborough surgery in the High Street. Many improvements have been seen with local state schools in Marlborough during my lifetime. I started my education in Church Cottage in Silverless Street, before going to St Mary's in Herd Street (now houses). I then went to St Peter's (to start with in what is now the Library, then in the old grammar school building in The Parade) and on to Marlborough Grammar School (now St John's). All of these buildings have now been rebuilt or repurposed with, I hear, many improvements. (No more sitting crossed legged on the floor, hoping for some heat from the single large fossil fuel heater in the classroom). Some private schools have disappeared (Kingsbury Hill House School and Mayfield College in London Road), transformed into housing but Marlborough College seems to be continually growing.
Trevor Dobie |
Although Marlborough is working hard to keep an independent, thriving High Street, many shops and pubs have been lost since my birth: Grocers (Don Burgess, Jack Smith, Hilliers) have all now been replaced by new supermarkets. Bob Loney fishmonger, Mrs Copplestone's homemade sweets, Linney's confectioner, Waldeck's Bakery, London Road Post Office, Green Parrot Sweets and many more small but busy shops have all disappeared or been repurposed. A number of pubs have gone (Five Alls, Jolly Butcher, Queen's Head, Cricketers', Cross Keys) and the accommodation rooms of The Aylesbury Arms Hotel and Ivy House Hotel lost to offices or College dorms.