The mound is located on the western side of Marlborough within the grounds of Marlborough College, close to the confluence of the nearby River Kennett. Local people defied the Tudor king, Henry VII, by armed resistance. This series is speculated to have taken about a century: a series of smaller mounds progressively enlarged with gravel and clay. The samples prove it was built at a time when British tribes were combining labour on ritual monuments in the chalk downlands of Wiltshire, including Stonehenge and the huge ditches and stone circle of Avebury. The Marlborough mound has been one of the biggest mysteries in the Wessex landscape. Chapelle du Marlborough College Le collège est construit à côté du Mound qui servait de motte à un château dont il ne reste rien aujourd'hui. Additionally, concrete steps are built into the south side of the mound, allowing modern access. your own Pins on Pinterest The trust strives to meet the following main objectives: "(i) restore, conserve, preserve and maintain the Mound at Marlborough College. Le collège est construit à côté du Mound qui servait de motte à un château dont il ne reste rien aujourd'hui. The earliest date (terminus post quem) for the construction was found to be 2580–2470 cal BC. [7][8], British historian Ronald Hutton speculates that the mound fits into several classes of purpose used by the prehistoric scholarly community: either an oratorical platform used for social purposes by a community, or having ritual meaning to the community. Geotechnical Engineering Ltd facilitated this operation and removed six cores, two taken from boreholes made at the summit. This monument includes a motte castle situated on the summit of a ridge surrounded by a meander of the River Kennet and within the grounds of Marlborough College within a Grade II Registered Garden (2247). As it is within the College grounds, the mound is on private property, unlike other comparable archaeological sites in Wiltshire.[3]. [8] Additional antlers were found in the years afterward by H.C Brentnall, a schoolmaster at the college, and fuelled Hoare’s original case for prehistoric origins of the mound in opposition to the idea that it was a burial site for Merlin or constructed solely to accommodate the Norman castle. Thus, scholars prefer to think about the Neolithic mound in terms of its stages of development and not as a finished product. Both neolithic structures are likely to have been constructed over many generations. After thorough excavations, the Marlborough mound is now thought to be around 4,400 years old, making it roughly contemporary with the nearby, and far more renowned, Silbury Hill. The current works are phase three of the tree removal on what is the second largest prehistoric mound in Britain. Radiocarbon dating tests were carried out on charcoal samples taken from Marlborough Mound, which lies in Marlborough College's grounds. For the Vermont college, see Marlboro College. Malborough's Master Nicholas Sampson said: "We are thrilled at this discovery, which confirms the long and dramatic history of this beautiful site and offers opportunity for tremendous educational enrichment.". Plus v⦠Marlborough Mound is a Neolithic monument in the town of Marlborough in the English county of Wiltshire. The 19m (62ft) high mound had previously mystified historians. The town of Marlborough, now famous for its gentility, actually has an exciting, turbulent and revolting past. The Mound. more structural conservation has been undertaken by Donald Insall Associates as a response to the growing dangers of destabilisation by tree roots. Maev Kennedy . For the former college in Blenheim, New Zealand, see Marlborough Boys' College. Modern study situates the construction date around 2400BC. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Extracting dateable material from the mound was thought to be best achieved by taking cores from the mound. Une datation au carbone 14 récente a permis d'établir qu'il remonte à 2400 av. The remains of an early-C18 formal garden designed for Marlborough House, incorporating a motte of an C11 castle (adapted from a prehistoric mound), which by the mid-C17 was adopted as a garden feature. Discover (and save!) Tue 31 May 2011 14.06 EDT. Ceramics Studio. Find all the transport options for your trip from London Paddington Station to Marlborough College right here. "On recent excavations at Marlborough College". Tradition still runs deep, but it doesnât reign. La légende veut que ce soit là qu'ait été enterré Merlin et que le nom de la ville, Marlborough, vienne de « Tumulus de Merlin ». Telling stories of the local area dating back to the Moundâs construction in around 2400 bc, and including key moments of Neolithic heritage, ⦠Jim Leary, the English Heritage archeologist who led a recent excavation of Silbury, said: "This is an astonishing discovery. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England surveyed the mound in 1999. Le plus ancien témoignage dhabitation humaine est un tumulus haut de 19 m situé sur les terrains de Marlborough College. âDue to the height of the mound at 19 meters, plus the height of ⦠[1], Recently, the interest in investigating the mound has bought it into a broader discussion of how mounds can be used to learn about the people that lived in this part of Neolithic Britain. Office Hours. Nigel Bryant suggested the mound was a monument to the Earth goddess. Photograph: Steven Vaux /Marlborough College. In 1067, William the Conqueror assumed control of the Marlborough area and assigned Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, to construct the wooden motte-and-bailey castle on the mound. [8][1] Edward VI then passed it to the Seymour family as he had relations with them through his mother. Additionally, its relation to the nearby Silbury Hill has generated scholarly interest in how the mound constitutes part of a larger archaeological complex in Wiltshire. It is not to be confused with. (ii) educate the public about the archaeological and historical significance and merits of the Mound at Marlborough College." For centuries, people have wondered whether it is Silbury's little sister, and now we have an answer. Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 12 pp160–184 – Parishes: Preshute", "The Giants of Wessex: the chronology of the three largest mounds in Wiltshire, UK", "Marlborough Mound - latest image of renovation work", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marlborough_Mound&oldid=994699342, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Vague or ambiguous time from September 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Earthworks remain as well as restored grotto and concrete slab at summit, This page was last edited on 17 December 2020, at 02:34. This film uncovers the history of the Mound, explaining its legacy⦠In this sense, the mound forms part of a tradition of garden mounds which were prominent in Britain from the end of the 16th century. Brentnall suggested that the impregnation of chalk on the antlers made it unlikely that they could have been buried subsequent to the mound's construction. Athletics Track. But the mysterious, pudding-shaped mound in the grounds of the Wiltshire public school now looks set to gain far wider acclaim as scientists have revealed it is a prehistoric monument of international importance. For generations, it has been scrambled up with pride by students at Marlborough College. Marlborough College. Since construction, the mound has functioned as the motte for a Norman Castle, a garden feature for a stately home, and a coaching inn as well as the site for a water tower within Marlborough College. [15], The restoration of the mound is in part a response to the state of disrepair of the mound since its more aesthetically pleasing appearance as part of Lady Hertford’s garden, as well as the renewal of scholarly interest in the mound and the site. [9] The neighbouring Savernake Forest was made into a royal hunting ground, and Marlborough Castle became a royal residence. Swimming pool. The most recent ly documented history of the mound dates to the twentieth century, when it served as the site for a water tank for Marlborough College. The remains of an early-C18 formal garden designed for Marlborough House, incorporating a motte of an C11 castle (adapted from a prehistoric mound), which by the mid-C17 was adopted as a garden feature. Ancient mound in the grounds of Marlborough College, Wiltshire. Marlborough College Summer School - 2021. Stone was later used to strengthen the castle, around 1175. Furthermore, it has been observed that the period in which the mound and the others in Wiltshire were constructed coincided with the appearance of early English Beakers. The castle fell into disrepair after it was no longer used from 1370. [4] In recent years there has been renewed interest in the site pertaining to its restoration and preservation as a culturally and historically significant site in Wiltshire.