Tower and Town, October 2025 (view the full edition)The Sheep Fair And Other WondersThe Marlborough Sheep Fair was held every year and a lot of the sheep came by rail. They used to build pens up at Cherry Orchard. As they opened the carriages (each belonged to a certain farmer), they would get them out into the pens all together in a flock. Once all out, they would then drive the flock down Cherry Orchard onto Salisbury Road, along London Road, up Herd Street and onto the common where they had the Sheep Fair. Each farmer had to be let out at a certain time and keep his sheep separate so that he knew his sheep. I remember the sheep were sick all over the place. Some of the sheep were yellow; they were all different types and we used to go and try and look at the different types of sheep because some were bold and had different coloured wools. It was a big occasion. We used to get sticks, then tap the sheep to make them 'come on'. We thought we were helping the blokes do what they were supposed to do. They were able to drive the sheep in this way as it was so quiet. I mean, if you saw a car, it was ever so rare. At that time nobody in Cherry Orchard had a car. Tony can remember cattle also coming by train as well and they took the cows off the carriage and put them in the cattle pen. I used to help because they had to inject the cows, and I helped the vet hold all the things because I wanted to be a vet when I grew up. I used to hold all the needles and that; they'd get the cow up against the edge and inject it and then let it go. And this very young cow tried to jump out and it landed right on the top bar and went down into the water trough. When the circus came to town, they would come by train. When the train arrived on the GWR line, it would stop by the signal box. There was a little siding in there that the animals and circus could come out onto and then go down the track that comes out by where Tesco is now on their route up to the common. I remember one day that we were so excited as the elephants came by as we stood on the bridge (that is no longer there) over what is now the A436 and watched them go under the bridge. They would walk along, trunk to tail, up to the common. The Ark - Kieren Dobie writes: The Ark was signal box at Marlborough's High Level station near the top of Cherry Orchard. The old station was turned into accommodation for ganger Noah Trotman, so the signal box became Noah's Ark . Kieren's father recalls a stone plaque above the door that read 'The Ark'.
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