Marlborough
The historic market town of Marlborough straddles the former stagecoach route from London to Bath, lying beside the swift-flowing River Kennet on the southern fringes of the Marlborough Downs. Marlborough still possesses one of the most attractive main streets in the country lined with handsome Tudor houses and Georgian colonnaded shops, behind which are many fascinating back alleys with quaint, medieval half-timbered cottages. There is still a weekly market in the High Street and each October the ‘Mop Fair is held to commemorate the old ‘hiring market’, an annual gathering where trades people looking for work would stand in the market holding tools of their trade.
An enclosed arched bridge stands at the western end of the town leading to the famous public school of Marlborough College. On the Downlands around Marlborough are many prehistoric remains including Barbury Castle, an Iron-Age hill-fort covering some 12 acres, Silbury Hill, the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe and the ancient settlement of Avebury. Two miles to the south-east of Marlborough, the magnificent Savernake Forest has been a royal hunting forest since pre-Norman times. The 2000 acres, which survive today, are leased to the Forestry Commission by the Marquess of Aylesbury, and are now a haven for deer, wild birds and rare plants.
