Marlborough Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; The Mount

In the civil parish of Marlborough. In the historic county of Wiltshire (Modern Authority of Wiltshire, 1974 county of Wiltshire).

Large mound, possibly a motte and bailey within the grounds of Marlborough College. The first documentary evidence for the existence of a castle is during the reign of King Stephen, who held it in 1139 from the Empress Matilda. It is possible that it existed earlier. Repairs and construction of a ring wall around the motte are recorded for 1209-11. Further building occurred during the reign of Henry II, including a Great Tower. The castle was in ruins by 1403. Parts of the keep and curtain wall have been identified by excavation and a Roman coin recovered. A chapel was allegedly situated within the bailey. The mound was incorporated into a garden layout during the late C17/early C18, with the construction of a summerhouse on the top and a grotto at the base. There has been considerable speculation that the mound has origins in the later Neolithic, by analogy with Silbury Hill (qv), particularly since the discovery in 1912 of several red deer antler fragments within the mound, and the collection of some struck flints from the ground surface to the south and south west in the early 1920s. At present, the extant evidence is rather limited however a late Neolithic origin for the mound cannot be completely ruled out, and the Marlborough placename (barrow of Maerla) does suggest the mound may be based on a barrow or, at least, a pre-saxon earthwork mound. From 1273-1369 it was in possession of the queen as a dower house. (PastScape)

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SU18376866

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 220514
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is SU16NE450 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.ecastles.co.uk/marlborough.html
    http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/smr/getsmr.php?id=13873
• Books
  • 2004, The Archaeology of Wiltshire’s Towns An Extensive Urban Survey Marlborough (Wiltshire County Archaeology Service) http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-906-1/dissemination/pdf/EUS_Texts/Marlborough.pdf
    Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern) p95
    Whittle, A., 1997, Sacred Mound, Holy Rings. Silbury Hill Hill and the West Kennet Palisade Enclosures: A Later Neolithic Complex in North Wiltshire (Oxford: Oxbow) p169-70
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p275-6
    James, T.B., 1990, The Palaces of Medieval England (London; Seaby) p50, 57, 70-1, 85, 86
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p499
    Crowley, D.A. (ed), 1983, ‘Marlborough Castle’, VCH Wiltshire (Oxford: OUP for the Institute of Historical Research) Vol12 p165-70 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66525#s2
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p259
    Haslam, J., 1976, Wiltshire towns: the archaeological potential (Devizes: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society) p41-2
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p734-8
    Stedman, 1960, Marlborough and the Upper Kennet Country (Marlborough) p38-48
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England (New York: Macmillan) Vol1 p229-30 http://www.archive.org/stream/castlesofengland01mack#page/229/mode/1up
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol2 (London) p11-12 http://www.archive.org/stream/abbeyscastlesanc00timbrich#page/10/mode/2up
• Journal Articles
  • Field, D., Brown, G. and Crockett, A., 2001, 'The Marlborough mount revisited' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol94 p195-204
    Creighton, O.H., 2000, 'Early Castles in the Medieval Landscape of Wiltshire' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol93 p108
    Stevenson, J.H., 1992, 'The castles of Marlborough and Ludgershall in the Middle Ages' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol85 p70-79
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    Williams, 1956, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Collectanea, Records Branch Vol12 p1-49 [accounts]
    Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
    Brentnall, H.C., 1937-9, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol48 p133-43
    Brentnall, H.C., 1935-7, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol47 p543
    Brentnall, H.C., 1933, Marlborough College Natural History Society Vol82 p66-104
    Brentnall, H.C., 1922, Marlborough College Natural History Society Vol71 p37-46
    Brentnall, H.C., 1913, Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol38 p112
    Clark, G.T., 1889, 'Contribution towards a complete list of moated mounds or burhs' The Archaeological Journal Vol46 p197-217 esp214 http://www.archive.org/stream/archaeologicaljo46brit#page/197/mode/1up
• Guidebooks
  • Brentnall, H.C., n.d., Castellum Merlebergae [reprint of Marlborough College articles]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p104 http://books.google.com/books?id=MK8KAAAAYAAJ
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p465-6
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/wilshireeng.html#wilts19]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p500
    Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (Bell and Sons; London) Vol5 p80 http://www.archive.org/details/itineraryofjohnl05lelauoft