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Marlborough, Wiltshire is in Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire.
Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map] is on the River Kennet.
John of Worcester. 23 May 1070. On Whitsunday [3rd May] the king (age 42), at Windsor, Berkshire [Map], gave the archbishopric of York to the venerable Thomas, canon of Bayeux, and the bishopric of Winchester to his chaplain, Walkeline. On the following day, by the king's command, Ermenfrid, bishop of Sion, held a synod, [the other legates] the cardinals John and Peter having returned to Rome. At this synod, Ethelric, bishop of Sussex, was uncanonically deposed; and although he was guilty of no crime, the king soon afterwards placed him in confinement at Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map]; several abbots were also deprived. After these depositions, the king gave the bishopric of East-Anglia to Arfast, and the bishopric of Sussex to Stigand79, who were both his chaplains; which Stigand transferred his see to Chichester, the chief city in his diocese: the king also gave abbeys to some Norman monks. The archbishop of Canterbury being degraded, and the archbishop of York dead, Walkeline was, by the king's command, consecrated by the same Ermenfrid, bishop of Sion, on the octave of Whitsunday [30th May].
Note 79. This first bishop of Chichester must not be confounded with the archbishop of the same name.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1110. In this year held the King Henry (age 42) his court at Christmas in Westminster, and at Easter he was at Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map], and at Pentecost he held his court for the first time in New Windsor.
In Dec 1164 King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England (age 31) and Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen Consort Franks and England (age 42) held Christmas Court at Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map].
On 24 May 1612 Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 48) died at Marlborough, Wiltshire [Map]. His son William (age 21) succeeded 2nd Earl Salisbury. Catherine Howard Countess Salisbury (age 22) by marriage Countess Salisbury.
John Evelyn's Diary. 09 Jun 1654. Dined at Marlborough [Map], which having been lately fired, was now new built. At one end of this town, we saw my Lord Seymour's (age 64) house, but nothing observable save the Mount, to which we ascended by windings for near half a mile. It seems to have been cast up by hand. We passed by Colonel Popham's (age 49), a noble seat, park, and river. Thence, to Newbury [Map], a considerable town, and Donnington, famous for its battle, siege, and castle, this last had been in the possession of old Geoffrey Chaucer. Then to Aldermaston, a house of Sir Humphrey Forster's, built à la moderne. Also, that exceedingly beautiful seat of my Lord Pembroke (age 33), on the ascent of hill, flanked with wood, and regarding the river, and so, at night, to Cadenham, the mansion of Edward Hungerford (age 21), Esq, uncle to my wife (age 19), where we made some stay. The rest of the week we did nothing but feast and make good cheer, to welcome my wife.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 15 Jun 1668. So took coach again, seeing one place with great high stones pitched round, which, I believe, was once some particular building, in some measure like that of Stonage. But, about a mile off, it was prodigious to see how full the Downes are of great stones; and all along the vallies, stones of considerable bigness [probably The Sanctuary [Map] - see Maud Cunnington], most of them growing certainly out of the ground so thick as to cover the ground, which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonage, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones, as well as those at Abebury. In my way did give to the poor and menders of the highway 3s. Before night, come to Marlborough [Map], and lay at the Hart; a good house, and a pretty fair town for a street or two; and what is most singular is, their houses on one side having their pent-houses supported with pillars, which makes it a good walk. My wife pleased with all, this evening reading of "Mustapha" to me till supper, and then to supper, and had musique whose innocence pleased me, and I did give them 3s.
Cunetio Roman Town, Marlborough, Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]
The Roman Road from Silchester to Bath connected Silchester, Hampshire [Map] with Bath, Somerset [Map] via Speen, Newbury [Map], Cunetio Roman Town [Map], Verlucio Roman Town [Map] and Lacock [Map] where it crossed the Gloucestershire River Avon.
Hart Inn, Marlborough, Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 15 Jun 1668. So took coach again, seeing one place with great high stones pitched round, which, I believe, was once some particular building, in some measure like that of Stonage. But, about a mile off, it was prodigious to see how full the Downes are of great stones; and all along the vallies, stones of considerable bigness [probably The Sanctuary [Map] - see Maud Cunnington], most of them growing certainly out of the ground so thick as to cover the ground, which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonage, for hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones, as well as those at Abebury. In my way did give to the poor and menders of the highway 3s. Before night, come to Marlborough [Map], and lay at the Hart; a good house, and a pretty fair town for a street or two; and what is most singular is, their houses on one side having their pent-houses supported with pillars, which makes it a good walk. My wife pleased with all, this evening reading of "Mustapha" to me till supper, and then to supper, and had musique whose innocence pleased me, and I did give them 3s.
Marlborough Castle, Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]
Marlborough Castle is also in Castles in Wiltshire.
Gesta Regis Henrici 1189. Meanwhile, Richard, Duke of Normandy, gave to his brother John the daughter of the Earl of Gloucester along with the County of Gloucester, and the castle of Marlborough [Map] along with that honour; and the castle of Ludgershall [Map] along with that honour; and the castle of Peak [Map] along with that honour; and the castle of Bolsover [Map]; and all the land that belonged to William Peverel; and the town of Nottingham along with that honour, and the castle of Lancaster [Map] along with that honour, and Derbyshire, and the honour of Wallingford, and the honour of Tickhill [Map], and many other things which are too long to enumerate individually. He gave him all these things with the forests, towns, and all their other appurtenances.
Interim Ricardus dux Normanniæ dedit Johanni fratri suo filiam comitis Gloucestriæ cum comitatu Gloucestriæ, et castellum de Merleberg cum honore illo; et castellum de Lutegareshale cum honore illo; et castellum de Pech cum honore illo; et castellum de Boleshoveres; et totam terram que fuit Willelmi Peverel1; et villam de Notingham cum honore illo, et castellum de Lounecastre cum honore illo, et Derebisiram, et honorem de Walinford, et honorem de Tikehil, et multa alia quae longum est enumerare per singula. Hæc omnia dedit ei cum forestis, villis et aliis omnibus pertinentiis suis.
Note 1. Forfeited in 1155 for the poisoning of the earl of Chester - see Ranulf Gernon, 4th Earl Chester.
On 29 Aug 1189 King John of England (age 22) and Isabella Fitzrobert 3rd Countess Gloucester and Essex (age 16) were married at Marlborough Castle [Map]. He by marriage Earl Gloucester. She the daughter of William Fitzrobert 2nd Earl Gloucester and Hawise Beaumont Countess Gloucester. He the son of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen Consort Franks and England (age 67). They were half second cousins. She a great granddaughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.
Chronicle of Roger de Hoveden. [Around Mar 1194] And the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a great army, laid siege to Marlborough [Map]; which, within a few days, was surrendered to him, with the lives and limbs of those inside spared.
Et archiepiscopus Cantuariensis cam magno exercitu obsedit Merleberge; quod infra paucos dies redditum est ei, salvis vita et membris inclusorum.
On 20 Aug 1222 Eleanor Fair Maid of Brittany (age 38) was moved to Marlborough Castle [Map] where she remained until 09 Oct 1223.
On 14 Feb 1318 Margaret of France Queen Consort England (age 39) died at Marlborough Castle [Map]. She was buried at Christ Church, Greyfriars [Map]. Her tomb was destroyed during the Reformation.
Marlborough College, Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles
Life of William Morris. In Feb 1848 Morris was entered at Marlborough College in February, 1848, being then just under fourteen. He remained there till the Christmas of 1851, the last year of Dr. Wilkinson's rather disastrous head-mastership. During these early years the school had never outgrown the confusion amid which it started in 1843, when two hundred boys from all parts of England were suddenly shot down into the chaos of a new school with no tradition, little organization, and insufficient funds. Yet the need for the school was so great that these numbers kept growing term by term: within the first three years they doubled, and for some time afterwards there was an incessant race between the growth of the school and the progress of the new buildings. More than a hundred new boys entered along with Morris at the beginning of 1848. The Great Western Railway was then being pushed slowly westward from Reading. Until Morris left school, Hungerford, eleven miles off, remained the nearest station. The town itself was the same quiet little place that it is now. Its remoteness from any large town, and the weakness of the school organization generally, resulted in the boys being allowed much greater individual freedom than was even then common, or than now exists at any public school. There was no regular system of athletics. Cricket and football were only played by a small number of the boys. In play hours the bulk of them used to ramble about the country. There was no fixed school dress, and no prefect system. A single large schoolroom served for all the boys under the fifth form. For the average schoolboy the effects or this loose discipline may be doubtful; but for a boy of strong tastes and exceptional gifts it was not without its advantages. Under the elaborate machinery and the overpowering social code of the modern public school the type is fostered at the expense of the individual: with a boy like Morris the strain would have been so great that something must have snapped. Even as it was he lived a rather solitary life; and he left Marlborough with little regret, and retained little affection for it in later years. But his physical and moral strength, both unusually great, saved him from serious bullying, and his school life was not unhappy. The self-sufficingness which always remained one of his most striking characteristics kept him from being either lonely or discontented. He never played either cricket or football. The weekly whole holiday of the summer half was spent by him in long rambles through Savernake Forest and over the Downs, sometimes in company with other boys of congenial tastes, but if not, quite happy to be alone. The pre-Celtic long barrows on the ridges above Pewsey Vale, the round barrows of which Silbury Hill [Map] is the most imposing example, the stone circles of Avebury, the Roman villas at Kennet, all became familiar to him; and the royal castle, as it existed in all its splendour in the reign of Henry III., was almost as real to him as the beautiful seventeenth-century building which had replaced it, and which, after so many vicissitudes, had become the home of the new school.
On 24 Oct 1869 Captain Leopold Jenner was born to William Jenner 1st Baronet (age 54) and Adela Adey. He was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Life of William Morris. Some time before his death Mr. Morris had bought a nomination to Marlborough College for his son [William Morris]. The school had been recently founded "in a healthy and central position," to quote the terms of its prospectus," and conveniently accessible from all parts of England, being only twelve miles from Swindon, which is to be the great point of junction of the chief lines of railway in the kingdom." It was at all events in the centre of one of the most beautiful and romantic parts of England, in a neighbourhood full of history, and still fuller of prehistoric records. A childhood on the skirts of Epping Forest was fitly followed by a boyhood on the edge of Savernake. It is not easy to over-estimate the influence of these surroundings on the development of a sensitive and romantic nature, or their share in fostering that passionate love of earth and her beauty which remained a controlling and sustaining force throughout his life.
Shaw Medieval Village, Marlborough, Selkley Hundred, Wiltshire, South-West England, British Isles [Map]
The Wiltshire Wansdye remains highly visible in the landscape especially when it is crossing chalk downland that has little vegetation to hide it. Its date is somewhat uncertain; most sources consider it to have been constructed around 600AD give or take a hundred years either was. It was definitely constructed before the 9th century when begins to occur in charters.
It appears to start west of Savernake Forest [Map], after which it travels broadly west through Shaw Medieval Village [Map], Furze Hill [Map], Tan Hill, Wiltshire [Map], Shepherd's Shore, Wiltshire [Map], Furze Knoll [Map] after which it disappears, possibly being absorbed into the Roman Road