Marlborough,

Marlborough, an old and interesting market-town of Wiltshire, pleasantly situated in the valley of the Kennet, near Savernake Forest, 75 miles W. of London and 11 SSE. of Swindon. Its broad High Street contains some picturesque houses, and at the east end is St Mary's Church with the town-hall (1790); at the west St Peter's with the college. Near the latter is a British mound, on which early in the 12th century Bishop Roger of Salisbury built a castle. This afterwards became a royal residence; and here in 1267 Henry III. held the parliament which enacted the 'Statutes of Marleberge' for restoring good government after the Barons' wars. An ancient municipal borough, Marlborough, till 1867, returned two members to parliament, and till 1885 one. Pop. (1851) 3460; (1891) 3012.—Marlborough College was incorporated in 1845, and obtained an additional charter in 1853; the number of pupils is between 500 and 600, of whom about 70, sons of clergymen, are on the foundation. There are some thirty scholarships worth from £15 to £80 annually, and fourteen leaving exhibitions for Oxford, Cambridge, and Woolwich. The nucleus of the college buildings was formerly a famous coaching-house; and their special glory is the new chapel, an Early Decorated nave with apsidal chancel, completed in 1886, at a cost of £30,000. See local histories by Waylen (1854) and Hulme (1881).