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The White Horse Bookshop 136 High Street Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1HN |
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Tel:
01672 512071 / 513700 Fax: 01672 515994 |
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Marlborough is
built on the main London to Bath coaching road, and claims to have one
of the widest High Streets in England. Marlborough has been a market
town since receiving its charter from King John in 1204, and included
in the charter was the right to close the High Street every October for
the Mop Fair - originally a hiring fair for farm-workers and domestic
servants, now a fun fair. There are still markets every Wednesday and
Saturday - for more information about local traders, go to The Foodie Bugle
website for a review of Marlborough's independent shops and market
stall holders. For news and opinion on local issues and events, go to Marlborough News Online.
Marlborough
has a popular annual
jazz
festival and an annual literary
festival. The new Theatre on the
Hill at St John's
School is the venue for a range of events throughout the year, and the Marlborough Players
are a thriving amateur dramatic company
Marlborough Box Office is an online guide to what's on in the Marlborough area.
Marlborough Box Office is an online guide to what's on in the Marlborough area.
Residents and visitors include Samuel Pepys, who described Marlborough as 'a pretty fair town' (although only 'for a street or two'!) , poets Siegfried Sassoon, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Louis MacNeice and John Betjeman (among many others) and the novelist William Golding. Shakespeare's company played in Russell Square. Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children taught at St Peter's School (in the building that is now the public library). King John was married in Marlborough, and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was ordained in St Peter's Church, beginning the long career that ended in his downfall when he fell out of favour with Henry VIII.
Perhaps most notable of all is Merlin, King Arthur's magician, who is, according to legend, buried in the mound within the grounds of Marlborough College!
