Marlborough College

Alma Mater to an illustrious roll call which includes William Morris, poets Siegfried Sassoon, Louis MacNeice and John Betjeman, Bruce Chatwin, bankrupts Ian and Kevin Maxwell and the sublimely talented Nick Drake, Marlborough College has also produced a few bishops, a handful of first class cricketers as well as the odd captain of industry.

More recent products of its undeniably superior education are the painter Endellion Lycett Green, Samantha Cameron, Kate Middleton and Princess Eugenie, giving Marlborough College terrific appeal for families on the up, harbouring ambitions both

The Victorian Gothic-style chapel is particularly impressive with its William Morris stained glass and a very interesting collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings.

professional and matrimonial for their offspring. The Good Schools Guide described Marlborough as a 'famous, designer-label, co-ed boarding school still riding high.'

Dominating the western end of town, the college is composed of a collection of handsome Georgian and Victorian buildings (with state of the art modern additions, naturally). It's Victorian Gothic-style chapel is particularly impressive with its William Morris stained glass and a very interesting collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Founded in 1843 ‘for the sons of clergy and others’, Marlborough College wasoriginally housed in the fine seventeenth century manor house once owned by The Dukes of Somerset on the left just after the bridge travelling west on the Bath Road. The College’s early days were difficult - brutal bullying was rife and 1851 in particular was noted for The Great Rebellion,

when discipline collapsed entirely nearly bringing the school to its knees. Some might argue that modern public schools are little different but Marlborough was one of the first schools to officially abolish the custom of fagging in 1920s. The contemporary version with its warm, private rooms, good catering and first class facilities for sport, art and music is a world away from its earlier incarnations.

An astonishing 749 former pupils were killed in the Great War and a substantial number in the Second World War, many of them highly decorated for their bravery. Marlborough set a very important trend in 1968 by admitting girls to their 6th Form and by 1989 the school had become fully co-ed. These days it is host to some 900 pupils each paying around £30,000 per year for the privilege. There is no doubt that the school lends the town much of its class and status, not to mention a constant stream of vibrant young consumers helping to keep the town's businesses afloat. Whether you despise them or aspire to be them, there's no ignoring them.

Picture Credits : Wikipedia Commons