The Wiltshire market town is quintessentially English, says Gary Parkinson

Perhaps its name doesn’t really derive from being the burial place of King Arthur’s hirsute wizard (“Merlin’s Barrow”, the incontestably prehistoric tumulus now in the grounds of Marlborough College). But there’s something deeply English about Marlborough. 

Maybe it’s the alumni of the aforementioned independent school, including William Morris, Siegfried Sassoon, John Betjeman, Nick Drake, Reggie Perrin writer David Nobbs, Lauren Child, Jack Whitehall and, er, Anthony Blunt. Maybe it’s the titular dukedom. Maybe it’s the deep history, from Neolithic times through a royal wedding (of Henry III) to the stagecoach era – it’s on the A4 London-to-Bath road, which is why the High Street is unusually wide.

Whatever the reason, Marlborough is now a quintessential market town, thereby blending rural hinterland (geographic and historic) with urban thrust, community with commerce. Where it’s perhaps slightly unusual is in its lack of a railway station, which is for once not due to Beeching’s axe: one of its two stations closed after the 1921 rationalisation of 120 train companies into four majors, and the other succumbed in 1961 to competition from the increasingly popular private motor car.

Now, Marlborough is attractive without being tourist-drenched, historic without being a theme park, and surrounded by a designated Area of Natural Beauty. Altogether, it’s none-more-English enough to enchant Merlin – and he was Welsh...

Starting out There’s a one-bed ground-floor apartment on central Kingsbury Street with plenty of period features – high ceilings, French windows, feature fireplace and fan-lights– for your £195,000. 

Great for families....  If you fancy the sort of place with an inglenook fireplace, £315,000 buys a 16th-century three-bed semi on central Herd Street (aka the A346 to Swindon). If you need more bang per buck, there’s a £250,000 newbuild terrace on Orchard Road, just south of the centre but handy for schools. 

Just won the lottery? Like something out of Roald Dahl, Forest Edge House is a detached 1930s home on Chopping Knife Lane. It has four beds (one ensuite), mature gardens, period pieces aplenty, a summer house, an annex and an Aga, all for £1.25m. 

THE COST OF LIVING

Average rent: Most one-beds hover around £650 per month, four-beds around £1,500 - such as the detached in River Park, down by the Kennet.

Average house price: Non-retirement one-beds average £190,000. Four-beds average £485,000 but this is dragged up by top-end newbuilds clearing £700,000, like the Arts & Crafts-tinged Marleberg Grange development; bargain-hunters may prefer the ‘upside-down’ triangular three-storey on central New Road for £270,000. 

Average rental yield: Not the most spectacular: a £190,000 one-bed rented at £650 per month yields 4.11 percent before costs. But...

Average house price rise: ...the current average price of £507,981 is up a chunky 7.93 percent on 12 months ago. 

Average salary: Wiltshire’s average is £29,667, £18.50 per week below the UK average of £30,629 and comparable with Bournemouth, Derby and the Shetlands. Marlborough’s 63 percent employment rate is below the UK average of 76.3 percent.

Average price of a pint: £3.75

Council tax: £1,342.67 to £4,028.

MARLBOROUGH AT A GLANCE

Connections: By car Bristol is 60 minutes, Southampton 70, London 120 (the M4 is 10 miles north). Trains to London Paddington take an hour, but first you’ll have to reach Pewsey (seven miles south), Bedwyn (seven south-east) or Swindon (12 north) by road.

Amenities: 3/5 Dozens of shops on that generous High Street, plus Hilliers Yard and Hughenden Yard; market on Wednesday and Saturday; plenty of places to eat and drink, from chains and a Rick Stein restaurant to centuries-old pubs like the Lamb Inn and Green Dragon. 

Festivals and events: Mantonfest (music, Jun), Open Studios (artists’ open-house, Jul), Barbury Castle Horse Trials (Jul), Literature Festival (Sep), Dark Skies Fest (astronomy, Oct), Mop Fair (Oct).

Open space: 4/5 Riverside walks, Treacle Bolly, Stonebridge Wild River Reserve, Marlborough Common, Swindon to Marlborough Railway Path; Savernake Forest is two miles south and the whole town is in the North Wessex Downs AONB. 

Landmarks: The Merchant’s House, a restoration of a 17th century silk mercer’s abode; Grade I-listed St Mary’s parish church; the Crofton Beam Engines on the Kennet & Avon canal.

Schools: 3/5 Preshute C of E Primary and St John’s Marlborough secondary are both Ofsted-rated Outstanding, as are two primaries in nearby Ramsbury.

Crime 5/5 The local Wiltshire County area averages 52.2 recorded crimes per thousand people, way below the 89.3 average for England and Wales and comparable with North Yorkshire and Devon.

Famous faces: Though Cornish by birth (and death), Lord of the Flies author William Golding grew up here – his father taught science at the local grammar.

HEAD FOR RURAL BLISS IN… 

Sandy Lane

Formerly part of the Bowood House estate, Sandy Lane – 17 miles west of Marlborough – is a village so chocolate-box that even the church has a thatched roof. With a population in the dozens, properties are rare but there’s a Grade II-listed mid-1700s three-bed, thatched and detached, available for £465,000. 

Wootton Rivers 

Five miles south (and three miles from Pewsey train station), Wootton Rivers has a 16th-century pub, a 15th-century manor house and a 14th-century church with a music-box chime playing six different tunes. Befitting its fluvial placename, it’s also host to Wootton Rivers Lock on the restored Kennet and Avon Canal.

Aldbourne

Eight miles north-east and thus temptingly close to the M4, Aldbourne is such a picture-perfect village that it’s where Vodafone filmed their Christmas ad (the one with Martin Freeman skating). It’s built around a Grade I-listed parish church with Perpendicular Gothic tower. £300,000 buys a period two-bed terraced, £525,000 bags a thatched three-bed detached.

Originally published in the Metro newspaper, 24 Mar 2020