Marlborough College
Encyclopedia
Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school
for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England
clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800 pupils, approximately one third of whom are female. New pupils are admitted at the ages of 13+ ("Shell entry") and 16 (Lower Sixth).
Marlborough was, in 1968, the first major British independent school to allow girls into the sixth form
, setting a trend that many other schools would follow. The College became fully co-educational in 1989. The College has also been pioneering in other fields, making a major contribution to the School Mathematics Project
(from 1961) and initiating the teaching of Business Studies at A level (from 1968). Fagging
was officially abolished in the 1920s, and Marlborough was one of the first public schools to do so. However, unofficial fagging did persist beyond this change for some time. In 1963 a group of boys, led by the future political biographer Ben Pimlott
, wrote a book, "Marlborough, an open examination written by the boys," describing life at the school. The writer and television critic T.C. Worsley wrote about predatory masters at the school in his critically acclaimed autobiography Flannelled Fool: A Slice of a Life in the Thirties
.
The Good Schools Guide described Marlborough as a "Famous, designer label, co-ed boarding school still riding high." The school is a member of the G20 Schools
Group.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times
, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. However, Mrs Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed."
of a castle
. No remains of the castle can be seen today. It is generally accepted that the Mound is actually of much more ancient construction and possibly a similar feature to Silbury Hill
; indeed, it is a contender for the prize of Europe's oldest building. 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 by the architects George Frederick Bodley
and Thomas Garner
which has an interesting collection of pre-Raphaelite style paintings by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
and stained glass by William Morris
.
The rest of the Court is surrounded by buildings in styles ranging from faux Tudor
to classical Georgian
and Victorian
prison. The latter, B house, was (along with the College Chapel) designed by the Victorian architect Edward Blore
, whose other works include the facade of Buckingham Palace (since redesigned) and the Vorontsovsky Palace in Alupka, Ukraine.
On the other side of the Mound is the Science laboratory, built in 1933. It is an early example of shuttered concrete construction and was listed as a building of architectural significance in 1970.
on entering the school. This is where they live and make their home while at school. The Houses compete against one another in sports, but they are not exclusive and everyone has friends from other Houses.
The Houses are divided into In-College Houses which are mostly gathered around the central Court and Out-College Houses which are located around the western side of the town. Unusually, the older In-College Houses were not historically given names but were referred to by an alphanumeric
title. A reorganisation a few years ago combined some houses and eliminated some of the older numbered Houses. More recently created Houses have been given names either reflecting their location or commemorating a figure from the school's past.
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.
At the same time the other senior houses began to take in boys directly from prep schools – Preshute (1970), Cotton (1976), Littlefield (1977) and the in-college houses in 1989. B2 (which had shared B house with B1) and B3 ceased taking in new boys in 1989 and were both closed in 1992.
When the College became fully co-educational in 1989, three girls' houses were opened – Morris, Elmhurst and Mill Mead; New Court was opened in 1991. Morris was moved in 1995 from A house to Field House, which had previously been occupied by B3 and C2. New houses were built to accommodate C3, which had previously shared C house with C1 (in 1989) and C2 (in 1992).
s in the Southern Railway's
Schools class, which were named after prominent English public schools. The locomotive bearing the School's name (no. 922, later 30922) was withdrawn in 1961. Both its nameplates are now on display at the school – one in the Norwood Hall and the other in the Science labs.
).
a former student at Marlborough.
The building has huge curved glass windows reflect the sun and to encourage the passer-by to look in. From the inside, it is equally spectacular. Steel pillars and beams support a vast uninterrupted space illuminated by natural light. The new Art School houses six teaching rooms, one library and a computer room. Below, and accessible by lift and stairs, is a basement lecture room, a new video editing and animation studio, a photography dark room and storage. In addition, there is a staff room, a sculpture room and toilet facilities. The new building is located next to the existing ceramic department, the woodwork area and the Mount House Gallery.
The Bradleian and part of its adjacent arches were built between 1871 and 1873 as a result of an appeal to create a fitting memorial to George Bradley's achievements at Marlborough. The sum of about £1,000 was raised and the Hall was opened with a dinner on 22 December 1873.
The Bradleian was first used as a place of study for scholars and later on functioned as a History Library and as a room for debates and lectures. From 1874 the building was also used for the so-called Penny Readings. These were entertainments organised by the boys during which pennies would be thrown onto the stage while the Senior Prefect gave a dramatic reading.
In 1958 The Bradleian was converted into a small theatre – an appropriate use since the Penny Readings were to evolve into the major theatrical production of the Lent Term.
The Bradleian Theatre was much used for the staging of house plays during the period 1960–1990.
During the 1990s it was given a major face-lift and an extra building was added onto its eastern side. It is now a modern and flexible drama workshop and theatre in which much of the work of the Theatre Studies Department is centred.
on 23 May 1925. It stands to the west of the Court and is linked to the chapel by means of stone steps leading down to the hall's brick-paved forecourt.
The Memorial Hall was designed to have a maximum capacity of about 800 and so today, even with extra chairs placed around the ambulatory, the whole College can only just be squeezed in. Thus, apart from short whole school assemblies at the start and finish of each term, it is more usual for the hall to be used for Lower or Upper School assemblies. It is also used for concerts and theatrical productions where the whole school is not expected to attend.
The hall was built by Messrs Holloways of London at a cost of £53,000. The design was the result of a competition between Old Marlburian architects, the adjudicator being Sir John Simpson, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The winning design was that of William Newton.
The hall itself comprises a semi-circular auditorium of stepped seats with an ambulatory at the rear to allow inspection of the 749 names carved in alphabetical order and without reference to rank around the inside of the back of the hall.
The large hanging curtains at the back of the hall, together with the cork floor of the ambulatory, serve to deaden noise. At the back of the building, there is a separate entrance giving access to a series of music practice rooms located under the ambulatory.
The stone-paved terrace immediately in front of the Hall is in York stone, with a single square of green Connemara marble in front of each of the two entrances.
The façade of the hall towards the forecourt consists of two large entrance lobbies linked together by eight massive stone columns which screen the back wall of the stage and give a monumental character to the whole building.
In the centre of the hall's forecourt there is a hexagonal flower bed surrounded on each side by a large flower pot. The six flower pots represent the six years (1914–1919) during which the 749 men died. Originally, the flower bed was a pool of remembrance, paved with blue and gold mosaic. It was converted in the 1980s after serious leaks developed.
Close by and to the east of the Hall is a Memorial Rose Garden. This is entered via a small brick Loggia over the entrance of which is an inscription in Greek which can be translated as:
Within this quiet garden-close, Though o`er all lands our graves lie spread, Still do we live and walk with those Whose thoughts are with the dead.
The "new" Chapel, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, was erected on the site of the old. It was built by Stephens & Barstow at a cost of £31,000 under the direction of the architects, George Bodley and Thomas Garner and was consecrated on 29 September 1886 by the Bishop of Salisbury.
Amongst its noteworthy architectural features are the apsidal form of the East end and the strikingly large reredos in the Anglo-Catholic style, which was gilded much later, in 1951, by Sir Ninian Comper at the same time as he painted the inside of the apse.
Bodley & Garner's colour scheme of greens and browns, much loved by John Betjeman
, dominates the Chapel interior, together with a series of 12 large murals by the late Pre-Raphaelite
Spencer Stanhope. These depict Biblical scenes involving angels, six on the north side from the Old Testament and a like number on the south from the New.
Other artistic features of note are the Scholars' Window on the south side (a green window featuring the boys Samuel and Timothy which was designed by Burne-Jones and made under the direction of William Morris) and Eric Gill's sculpture of "The Virgin and Child" above the outside of the West Door.
The first Chapel, designed by Edward Blore (1787–1879), was opened in 1848 to accommodate 500 boys. It was, however, a rather plain building and by 1880 the College community had, in any case, grown to over 600.
An initial scheme of enlargement by lengthening the walls and raising their height had to be abandoned when it was discovered that Blore's foundations were insufficient to bear the extra weight and the decision was taken to salvage everything possible before Blore's Chapel was completely demolished in 1884.
The College Chapel was closed due to problems with the structural integrity. It has now been declared safe to use, although scaffolding is still present on it.
Whilst traditional workshop activity is catered for, the College has made a significant investment in equipment for CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture). Workshops include two computer controlled routers, two CNC vinyl cutters and a cnc engraver. A bank of CAD equipped computers sits in an air conditioned, glazed room at the heart of the building. The department has recently created an onsite design library with dedicated seating to encourage student use.
All music halls and performance areas are fitted with sound proof windows which prevent sound from escaping, even while open, as well as walls engineered to prevent sound crossing at right angles. The floors of the centres also float on a bed of air, so as to maintain good soundproofing.
In addition, the Music Technology classroom contains a 24 track digital recording studio with a 72 channel, fully automated digital mixing desk. In addition to a substantial rack of outboard equipment, the mixer incorporates audio effects, editing and mastering plug-ins.
This studio is linked to many other rooms in the Hony Centre by video, analogue tie-lines and a fibre-optic Digital Audio Network. Thus performances in the Ellis Theatre or Goodison Hall can be patched straight through to the studio with minimal fuss. A Soundfield MkV microphone has recently been installed in the Ellis Theatre to give pupils the opportunity to make live ambient recordings to professional standards.
The observatory is used today to support the GCSE Astronomy course and space modules in the Physics syllabus. All Shell (Year 9) pupils visit the dome in House groups over the first two terms of their time at Marlborough and 'Outreach' encourages use of the dome by those outside the College community. Sir Patrick Moore
is president of 'Friends of the Marlborough Telescope', a group of some eighty local observing enthusiasts.
The Barclay equatorial mounting telescope housed in the observatory is a 10" aperture refractor constructed in 1860 by Thomas Cooke and Sons of York. When built, it was one of the largest telescopes in the UK; it was used professionally for 75 years, first in Essex and then at the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory.
When the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory
was being re-sited to South Africa, Sir Basil Blackett raised 800 guineas so that the 10" Barclay Equatorial refractor that had formerly been housed at Oxford could be moved to its current location on the Marlborough College playing fields. It was opened there in 1935 by Harold Knox-Shaw, the last Oxford based Radcliffe Observer.
Starting in 1997, the College funded a five year restoration plan to completely renovate, re-motorise and computerise the main telescope. It is now likely to be the oldest telescope in the world to have a 'go to’ function. The Observatory and telescope were re-opened in October 2002 by Savillian Professor, Joseph Silk FRS.
There are two all-weather astro-pitches (one floodlit) for hockey and tennis (12 courts) and further hard court areas for netball (10 courts) and tennis (12 courts).
Golfers can play on the Marlborough and Ogbourne Downs golf courses. There are also facilities for sailing, canoeing and polo. Angling is available in the River Kennet or the trout ponds.
Under the lee of Granham Hill, stands an all-weather, porous rubber, athletics' track, opened in 2000 and equipped to international standards.
The College has a sports hall complex and gymnasium. This includes a fitness room, teaching rooms, and a fencing salle. There are indoor cricket nets and facilities for a range of sports including indoor tennis, netball, basketball, volleyball and badminton.
Next to the CCF Parade Ground, there is a .22 rifle range.
A 25 metre, competition, indoor swimming pool was opened in 2003. This has eight lanes and a hydraulic bottom which alters the depth from 0.8 to 3 metres making it equally ideal for squad training, water polo, sub aqua, canoeing or recreational swimming.
Indoor facilities also include 2 rackets courts, 5 squash courts and 6 fives courts.
The campus has an outdoor activities centre, the Kempson Centre, with dedicated storage, teaching space and an indoor climbing wall.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800 pupils, approximately one third of whom are female. New pupils are admitted at the ages of 13+ ("Shell entry") and 16 (Lower Sixth).
Marlborough was, in 1968, the first major British independent school to allow girls into the sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
, setting a trend that many other schools would follow. The College became fully co-educational in 1989. The College has also been pioneering in other fields, making a major contribution to the School Mathematics Project
School Mathematics Project
The School Mathematics Project is a developer of mathematics textbooks for secondary schools, based in Southampton in the UK.Now generally known as SMP, it began as a research project inspired by a 1961 conference chaired by Bryan Thwaites at the University of Southampton, which itself was...
(from 1961) and initiating the teaching of Business Studies at A level (from 1968). Fagging
Fagging
Fagging was a traditional educational practice in British boarding private schools and also many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the most senior boys...
was officially abolished in the 1920s, and Marlborough was one of the first public schools to do so. However, unofficial fagging did persist beyond this change for some time. In 1963 a group of boys, led by the future political biographer Ben Pimlott
Ben Pimlott
Benjamin John Pimlott, known as Ben Pimlott , was a British historian of the post-war period in Britain...
, wrote a book, "Marlborough, an open examination written by the boys," describing life at the school. The writer and television critic T.C. Worsley wrote about predatory masters at the school in his critically acclaimed autobiography Flannelled Fool: A Slice of a Life in the Thirties
Flannelled Fool
Flannelled Fool is an autobiography by T. C. Worsley, published in 1967. It takes its title from a phrase in "The Islanders", a poem by Rudyard Kipling....
.
The Good Schools Guide described Marlborough as a "Famous, designer label, co-ed boarding school still riding high." The school is a member of the G20 Schools
G20 Schools
All the schools claim to have a commitment to excellence and innovation of some sort. The G20 Schools have an annual conference which aims to bring together a group of school Heads who want to look beyond the parochial concerns of their own schools and national associations, and to talk through...
Group.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. However, Mrs Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed."
School buildings
The college is built beside the Mound. This was used as the motteMotte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle, with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised earthwork called a motte, accompanied by an enclosed courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade...
of a castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
. No remains of the castle can be seen today. It is generally accepted that the Mound is actually of much more ancient construction and possibly a similar feature to Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill
Silbury Hill is a prehistoric artificial chalk mound near Avebury in the English county of Wiltshire. It is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site, and lies at ....
; indeed, it is a contender for the prize of Europe's oldest building. 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
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
. More plausibly, the name probably derives from the medieval term for chalky ground "marl" – thus "town on chalk".
Coaching inn
In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...
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
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
boarding house now converted to other purposes. The north west corner is dominated by its Victorian Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style chapel by the architects George Frederick Bodley
George Frederick Bodley
George Frederick Bodley was an English architect working in the Gothic revival style.-Personal life:Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, M.D. of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston upon Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton, Sussex, England....
and Thomas Garner
Thomas Garner
Thomas Garner was one of the leading English Gothic revival architects of the Victorian era. His name is usually mentioned in relation to his almost 30-year partnership with George Frederick Bodley...
which has an interesting collection of pre-Raphaelite style paintings by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
John Roddam Spencer Stanhope
John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope is an English artist associated with Edward Burne-Jones and George Frederic Watts and often regarded as a second-wave pre-Raphaelite. His work is also studied within the context of Aestheticism and British Symbolism. As a painter, Stanhope worked in oil, watercolor,...
and stained glass by William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
.
Tudor style architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
to classical Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
and Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
prison. The latter, B house, was (along with the College Chapel) designed by the Victorian architect Edward Blore
Edward Blore
Edward Blore was a 19th century British landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland ....
, whose other works include the facade of Buckingham Palace (since redesigned) and the Vorontsovsky Palace in Alupka, Ukraine.
On the other side of the Mound is the Science laboratory, built in 1933. It is an early example of shuttered concrete construction and was listed as a building of architectural significance in 1970.
Houses
Pupils are assigned to one of the HousesHouse system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
on entering the school. This is where they live and make their home while at school. The Houses compete against one another in sports, but they are not exclusive and everyone has friends from other Houses.
The Houses are divided into In-College Houses which are mostly gathered around the central Court and Out-College Houses which are located around the western side of the town. Unusually, the older In-College Houses were not historically given names but were referred to by an alphanumeric
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric is a combination of alphabetic and numeric characters, and is used to describe the collection of Latin letters and Arabic digits or a text constructed from this collection. There are either 36 or 62 alphanumeric characters. The alphanumeric character set consists of the numbers 0 to...
title. A reorganisation a few years ago combined some houses and eliminated some of the older numbered Houses. More recently created Houses have been given names either reflecting their location or commemorating a figure from the school's past.
Names of the houses
| Boys In-College | Girls In-College | Mixed Out-College |
| B1 | Elmhurst | Turner (In-College) |
| C1 | Mill Mead | Cotton George Edward Lynch Cotton George Edward Lynch Cotton was an English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system.-Life in England:... |
| C2 | Morris William Morris William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement... |
Littlefield |
| C3 | New Court | Preshute |
| Barton Hill | – | Summerfield |
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.
At the same time the other senior houses began to take in boys directly from prep schools – Preshute (1970), Cotton (1976), Littlefield (1977) and the in-college houses in 1989. B2 (which had shared B house with B1) and B3 ceased taking in new boys in 1989 and were both closed in 1992.
When the College became fully co-educational in 1989, three girls' houses were opened – Morris, Elmhurst and Mill Mead; New Court was opened in 1991. Morris was moved in 1995 from A house to Field House, which had previously been occupied by B3 and C2. New houses were built to accommodate C3, which had previously shared C house with C1 (in 1989) and C2 (in 1992).
Southern Railway Schools class
In 1933, the school lent its name to one of the steam locomotiveLocomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s in the Southern Railway's
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
Schools class, which were named after prominent English public schools. The locomotive bearing the School's name (no. 922, later 30922) was withdrawn in 1961. Both its nameplates are now on display at the school – one in the Norwood Hall and the other in the Science labs.
Masters (headmasters) of Marlborough
- 1843–1851 Matthew Wilkinson
- 1852–1858 George Edward Lynch CottonGeorge Edward Lynch CottonGeorge Edward Lynch Cotton was an English educator and clergyman, known for his connections with British India and the public school system.-Life in England:...
- 1858–1870 George Granville BradleyGeorge Granville BradleyGeorge Granville Bradley was an English divine, scholar, and schoolteacher.-Life:George Bradley's father, Charles Bradley, was vicar of Glasbury, Brecon....
- 1871–1876 Frederick William Farrar
- 1876–1903 George Charles Bell
- 1903–1911 Frank Fletcher
- 1911–1916 St John Basil Wynne Willson
- 1916–1926 Cyril Norwood
- 1926–1939 George C Turner
- 1940–1942 Arthur Paul Boissier
- 1942–1952 Francis Melville Heywood
- 1952–1961 Thomas Ronald GarnettTommy GarnettThomas Ronald Garnett OAM was an English and Australian headmaster, horticulturist, ornithologist and author. Before the Second World War, he played first-class cricket for Somerset.-Early years:...
- 1961–1972 John Christopher Dancy
- 1972–1986 Roger Wykeham Ellis
- 1986–1993 David R Cope
- 1993–2003 Edward JH Gould
- 2004– Nicholas Alexander Sampson
Old Marlburians
See List of notable Old Marlburians for details of famous former pupils. Societies for former pupils include The Marlburian Club and the Old Marlburian Lodge (of FreemasonsFreemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
).
School terms
There are three academic terms in the year:- The Michaelmas Half, from early September to mid December (new boys, girls and lower-sixth candidates are now usually only admitted at the start of the Michaelmas Half);
- The Lent Half, from mid January to late March;
- The Summer Half, from late April to late June or early July.
Facilities
The Chapel (1886) is a masterpiece of its time. The Memorial Hall (1925) is a theatre and assembly space built in the neo-Classical style. The Hony Centre (2001) provides Drama and Music with modern facilities for teaching and performance and the Art School (2005) offers a contemporary facility for the teaching of the visual arts. In addition, the College grounds provide some of the most up-to-date sporting venues in the country while the Blackett Observatory (1935) is the most significant school observatory in the UK.Art facilities
On the 21 November 2005 the new Art School was officially opened by the Director of the National Gallery, Charles Saumarez SmithCharles Saumarez Smith
Charles Robert Saumarez Smith CBE is a British art historian. He was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1994 to 2002. From 2002 to 2007 he was director of the National Gallery and is currently Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts...
a former student at Marlborough.
The building has huge curved glass windows reflect the sun and to encourage the passer-by to look in. From the inside, it is equally spectacular. Steel pillars and beams support a vast uninterrupted space illuminated by natural light. The new Art School houses six teaching rooms, one library and a computer room. Below, and accessible by lift and stairs, is a basement lecture room, a new video editing and animation studio, a photography dark room and storage. In addition, there is a staff room, a sculpture room and toilet facilities. The new building is located next to the existing ceramic department, the woodwork area and the Mount House Gallery.
The Bradleian Theatre
The Bradleian is named after George Bradley who was appointed to succeed Bishop Cotton as Master of Marlborough in 1858. Today, it is a theatre and home to the Drama Department although this was not its original function.The Bradleian and part of its adjacent arches were built between 1871 and 1873 as a result of an appeal to create a fitting memorial to George Bradley's achievements at Marlborough. The sum of about £1,000 was raised and the Hall was opened with a dinner on 22 December 1873.
The Bradleian was first used as a place of study for scholars and later on functioned as a History Library and as a room for debates and lectures. From 1874 the building was also used for the so-called Penny Readings. These were entertainments organised by the boys during which pennies would be thrown onto the stage while the Senior Prefect gave a dramatic reading.
In 1958 The Bradleian was converted into a small theatre – an appropriate use since the Penny Readings were to evolve into the major theatrical production of the Lent Term.
The Bradleian Theatre was much used for the staging of house plays during the period 1960–1990.
During the 1990s it was given a major face-lift and an extra building was added onto its eastern side. It is now a modern and flexible drama workshop and theatre in which much of the work of the Theatre Studies Department is centred.
The Memorial Hall
The Memorial Hall is the College's principal memorial to the 749 men who gave their lives in World War I. Their names are inscribed on the wall at the back of the auditorium. College members who died during World War II are named on a memorial panel in the entrance hall. It was opened by H.R.H. The Duke of ConnaughtPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the shared British and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha royal family who served as the Governor General of Canada, the 10th since Canadian Confederation.Born the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and...
on 23 May 1925. It stands to the west of the Court and is linked to the chapel by means of stone steps leading down to the hall's brick-paved forecourt.
The Memorial Hall was designed to have a maximum capacity of about 800 and so today, even with extra chairs placed around the ambulatory, the whole College can only just be squeezed in. Thus, apart from short whole school assemblies at the start and finish of each term, it is more usual for the hall to be used for Lower or Upper School assemblies. It is also used for concerts and theatrical productions where the whole school is not expected to attend.
Architecture of the Memorial Hall
The hall was built by Messrs Holloways of London at a cost of £53,000. The design was the result of a competition between Old Marlburian architects, the adjudicator being Sir John Simpson, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The winning design was that of William Newton.
The hall itself comprises a semi-circular auditorium of stepped seats with an ambulatory at the rear to allow inspection of the 749 names carved in alphabetical order and without reference to rank around the inside of the back of the hall.
The large hanging curtains at the back of the hall, together with the cork floor of the ambulatory, serve to deaden noise. At the back of the building, there is a separate entrance giving access to a series of music practice rooms located under the ambulatory.
The stone-paved terrace immediately in front of the Hall is in York stone, with a single square of green Connemara marble in front of each of the two entrances.
The façade of the hall towards the forecourt consists of two large entrance lobbies linked together by eight massive stone columns which screen the back wall of the stage and give a monumental character to the whole building.
In the centre of the hall's forecourt there is a hexagonal flower bed surrounded on each side by a large flower pot. The six flower pots represent the six years (1914–1919) during which the 749 men died. Originally, the flower bed was a pool of remembrance, paved with blue and gold mosaic. It was converted in the 1980s after serious leaks developed.
The Memorial Rose Gardens
Close by and to the east of the Hall is a Memorial Rose Garden. This is entered via a small brick Loggia over the entrance of which is an inscription in Greek which can be translated as:
Within this quiet garden-close, Though o`er all lands our graves lie spread, Still do we live and walk with those Whose thoughts are with the dead.
The College Chapel
Architecture
The chapel, measuring 154 feet long, 54 feet wide and 60 feet high, is fashioned in the Late Decorated Gothic style.Amongst its noteworthy architectural features are the apsidal form of the East end and the strikingly large reredos in the Anglo-Catholic style, which was gilded much later, in 1951, by Sir Ninian Comper at the same time as he painted the inside of the apse.
Bodley & Garner's colour scheme of greens and browns, much loved by John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
, dominates the Chapel interior, together with a series of 12 large murals by the late Pre-Raphaelite
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
Spencer Stanhope. These depict Biblical scenes involving angels, six on the north side from the Old Testament and a like number on the south from the New.
Other artistic features of note are the Scholars' Window on the south side (a green window featuring the boys Samuel and Timothy which was designed by Burne-Jones and made under the direction of William Morris) and Eric Gill's sculpture of "The Virgin and Child" above the outside of the West Door.
History
As the College was founded in 1843 with the prime purpose of educating the sons of Clergy, building a Chapel was an early priority.The first Chapel, designed by Edward Blore (1787–1879), was opened in 1848 to accommodate 500 boys. It was, however, a rather plain building and by 1880 the College community had, in any case, grown to over 600.
An initial scheme of enlargement by lengthening the walls and raising their height had to be abandoned when it was discovered that Blore's foundations were insufficient to bear the extra weight and the decision was taken to salvage everything possible before Blore's Chapel was completely demolished in 1884.
The College Chapel was closed due to problems with the structural integrity. It has now been declared safe to use, although scaffolding is still present on it.
The Design Technology Centre
The facility is relatively compact and provides two dedicated design studios that open directly onto two linked multi–material workshops. Glazed partitions are used extensively within the structure of the building to ease the transition between the design areas and the workshops. Pupils are encouraged to move between the different zones according to need. One design studio is dedicated to work of design nature whilst the other also includes extensive resources for work in electronics.Whilst traditional workshop activity is catered for, the College has made a significant investment in equipment for CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture). Workshops include two computer controlled routers, two CNC vinyl cutters and a cnc engraver. A bank of CAD equipped computers sits in an air conditioned, glazed room at the heart of the building. The department has recently created an onsite design library with dedicated seating to encourage student use.
Music facilities
Officially opened by Sir Nicholas Goodison in October 2001 and named after Henry Hony, a former benefactor of the College, the Hony Centre for music and drama contains a variety of teaching, practice and performance areas.Teaching facilities
The Henry Hony Centre contains around twenty standard music teaching rooms. Each is equipped with a piano and is soundproofed and designed to acoustically enhance a player’s sound. An advanced keyboard lab also contains a digital organ. There are two purpose designed and fully equipped drama classrooms as well as workshops for the manufacture of stage scenery.Performance areas
The Ellis Theatre can be converted into a variety of stage formats for the performance of music or drama, or for talks and lectures. In a conventional end-stage configuration the theatre accommodates just over 200, as a thrust stage it holds 360, and as a theatre-in-the-round it seats nearly 450 including almost 100 in the surrounding balcony. The Goodison Hall provides a smaller and more intimate environment for performance.All music halls and performance areas are fitted with sound proof windows which prevent sound from escaping, even while open, as well as walls engineered to prevent sound crossing at right angles. The floors of the centres also float on a bed of air, so as to maintain good soundproofing.
Music technology
There are over 20 MIDI/Audio Computer Workstations in the Hony Centre running Cubase SL, Reason and Sibelius 3. All computers are loaded with MIDI and audio plug-ins, software and hardware instruments, effects and editing tools. The Music Department maintains its own network, MusicNet, which allows pupils the flexibility to work from any machine.In addition, the Music Technology classroom contains a 24 track digital recording studio with a 72 channel, fully automated digital mixing desk. In addition to a substantial rack of outboard equipment, the mixer incorporates audio effects, editing and mastering plug-ins.
This studio is linked to many other rooms in the Hony Centre by video, analogue tie-lines and a fibre-optic Digital Audio Network. Thus performances in the Ellis Theatre or Goodison Hall can be patched straight through to the studio with minimal fuss. A Soundfield MkV microphone has recently been installed in the Ellis Theatre to give pupils the opportunity to make live ambient recordings to professional standards.
The Observatory
The Blackett Observatory, is named after Sir Basil Blackett, one time President of the Old Marlburian Club; its telescope (the Barclay) is the largest in full time use in any school.Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
is president of 'Friends of the Marlborough Telescope', a group of some eighty local observing enthusiasts.
The Barclay equatorial mounting telescope housed in the observatory is a 10" aperture refractor constructed in 1860 by Thomas Cooke and Sons of York. When built, it was one of the largest telescopes in the UK; it was used professionally for 75 years, first in Essex and then at the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory.
When the Oxford Radcliffe Observatory
Radcliffe Observatory
Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of Oxford University from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and erected a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a grade I listed building.- History :...
was being re-sited to South Africa, Sir Basil Blackett raised 800 guineas so that the 10" Barclay Equatorial refractor that had formerly been housed at Oxford could be moved to its current location on the Marlborough College playing fields. It was opened there in 1935 by Harold Knox-Shaw, the last Oxford based Radcliffe Observer.
Starting in 1997, the College funded a five year restoration plan to completely renovate, re-motorise and computerise the main telescope. It is now likely to be the oldest telescope in the world to have a 'go to’ function. The Observatory and telescope were re-opened in October 2002 by Savillian Professor, Joseph Silk FRS.
Sports Facilities
Within the College grounds, there are playing fields. These include 11 rugby pitches, 6 grass hockey pitches, 8 cricket squares, 14 artificial cricket nets, 3 lacrosse pitches, 7 soccer pitches, 2 volleyball courts and a golf driving range.There are two all-weather astro-pitches (one floodlit) for hockey and tennis (12 courts) and further hard court areas for netball (10 courts) and tennis (12 courts).
Golfers can play on the Marlborough and Ogbourne Downs golf courses. There are also facilities for sailing, canoeing and polo. Angling is available in the River Kennet or the trout ponds.
Under the lee of Granham Hill, stands an all-weather, porous rubber, athletics' track, opened in 2000 and equipped to international standards.
The College has a sports hall complex and gymnasium. This includes a fitness room, teaching rooms, and a fencing salle. There are indoor cricket nets and facilities for a range of sports including indoor tennis, netball, basketball, volleyball and badminton.
Next to the CCF Parade Ground, there is a .22 rifle range.
A 25 metre, competition, indoor swimming pool was opened in 2003. This has eight lanes and a hydraulic bottom which alters the depth from 0.8 to 3 metres making it equally ideal for squad training, water polo, sub aqua, canoeing or recreational swimming.
Indoor facilities also include 2 rackets courts, 5 squash courts and 6 fives courts.
The campus has an outdoor activities centre, the Kempson Centre, with dedicated storage, teaching space and an indoor climbing wall.
See also
- Lists of independent schools in the UK
- Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ConferenceHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' ConferenceThe Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference is an association of the headmasters or headmistressess of 243 leading day and boarding independent schools in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and the Republic of Ireland...
- Education in the United KingdomEducation in the United KingdomEducation in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...
- List of Victoria Crosses by School
- The HeretickThe HeretickThe Heretick is a satirical magazine created by students of Marlborough College founded by the English poet John Betjeman in the early 1920s. Focusing on satire on both local and national events, its editors have included Anthony Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Lara Prendergast, James Lloyd, Catherine...