Marlborough College

  Reviews | News | Further Information

Marlborough College is a British boarding school in the county of Wiltshire, founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, although it now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800 pupils, approximately one third of whom are girls (Marlborough was, in 1968, the first major English public school to allow girls into the sixth form, setting a trend that many other schools would follow). The College become fully co-educational in 1989. New pupils are admitted at the ages of 13+ ("Shell entry") and 16 (Lower Sixth). The College has also been pioneering in other fields, making a major contribution the School Mathematics Project (from 1961) and initiating the teaching of Business Studies at A level (from 1968); fagging was abolished in the 1920's.

The college is built beside the Mound. This was used as the motte of a castle. No remains of the castle can be seen today. There are speculations that the Mound is actually of much more ancient construction and possibly a similar feature to Silbury Hill. Legend has it that the Mound is the burial site of Merlin and that the name of the town, Marlborough comes from Merlin's Barrow. More plausibly, the name probably derives from the medieval term for chalky ground "marl" - thus "town on chalk".

The main focus of the college is the Court. This is surrounded by buildings in a number of different styles. At the south end is the back of an early 18th century mansion, later converted to a coaching inn which was bought as the first building for the school. Next to it are the old stables, now converted into boarding houses. The west side consists of the 1960s red brick dining hall, which boasts the largest unsupported roof in the country, and a Victorian boarding house now converted to other purposes. The north west corner is dominated by its Victorian Gothic style chapel which has an interesting collection of pre-Raphaelite style paintings by J R Spencer Stanhope and stained glass by William Morris. The rest of the Court is surrounded by Victorian buildings in styles ranging from mock Tudor to Victorian prison.

Until 1967, when Turner House and Summerfield became the first all-age houses, all boys entering the school first joined a junior house for three or four terms. There were five out-college junior houses - Priory and Upcot which were both closed in 1967, Barton Hill which became an all-age in-college house in 1974, Hermitage which had closed in 1911 but reopened 1974-77, and Elmhurst which was closed in 1988 and reopened as a girls' house the following year. There were two in-college junior houses (A1 and A2) which shared A house; these were closed in 1989 and reopened as a girls' house renamed Morris House.

Marlborough College
Day & Boarding School, 13 to 18, Co-educational, 876+ pupils

Marlborough College

Marlborough,
Wiltshire,
SN8 1PA
England

Tel: 01672 892300

Fax: 01672 892307

E-mail: Contact School

Rate This School | View Rankings

For further related information, including Inspection Reports, Reviews, Alumni, Recruitment, Academic Results, School Website, School News and Area Information, see the Independent Schools Directory entry for Marlborough College