The visitor to the church enters through the Norman doorway in the western wall of the tower in full expectation of seeing an ancient interior with all the accoutriments which accompany a parish church which has stood for five, or so, centuries. This, perhaps, is why the eye is so shocked at first glance by the severe Puritan interior, the lack of a north aisle to balance the south and, perhaps most striking of all, the flat and unfamiliar ceilings. The initial impression subsiding, a little time exploring the past of this light and airy church will undoubtedly reward the curious.

THE NORMAN CHURCH
We know that there were churches in Norman Marlborough as early as 1091 by 1223, St Mary's, St Peter's and Preshute are all mentioned as being 'the churches of Marlborough'.

Despite this, the only parts of the present church which could date from such early times are the fine Norman arched doorway in the west wall of the tower (although, because of the way the stones are set, architects do not believe that this was the original position of the doorway), the pillar at the north-east corner of the tower and the corbels, some with grinning heads, which are fastened to the wall near the north-west door.

This is evidenced by the facing of the lower part of the north wall which is of green stone - this was also being used at the time in the construction of Salisbury Cathedral.

13^th CENTURY
The Norman church was enlarged in the 13^th century by widening the north aisle.

15^th & 16^th CENTURIES
The church was completely rebuilt in the 15^th century, during the reign of the Tudor monarchs. The south aisle was completely rebuilt and a chapel added at its east end. Large Perpendicular windows were inserted into both the south and north aisle walls. The present south door was probably also made at the same time although it was refaced when the south porch was built in 1844.

The evidence of willes executed between 1457 and 1502 indicates that the church had many altars and statues of the saints.

It is thought that the whole of the nave dates from the 15^th century although, with so many alterations in subsequent centuries, it is now very difficult to visualise the medieval building as it must have been.

The plain but well-proportioned tower was built during the reign of King Henry VIII. The belfry windows are typical early Tudor two-light windows but the west window, above the Norman doorway, is a 16^th century replica of a Perpendicular window.

17^th CENTURY
THE CIVIL WAR
Excepting for the Tudor tower, no major additions were made to the church between its rebuilding in the 15^th century and the Civil War. In December 1642, although the Seymours held Marlborough Castle for the King, the town supported Parliament and was beseiged by Royalist soldiers sent from Oxford. The town was stormed, captured, looted and partially destroyed.

Colonel Ramsay, the commander of the Parliamentarian defenders of the town is said to have taken refuge in the Church with his men. Local tradition tells that the marks of the Royalists' bullets can still be seen on the north elevation of the church's tower and it is certainly true that bullets were found in the framework of the bells when the tower was repaired in 1884.

There is an interesting entry in the Churchwardens' Account of 1651;-

to John Williams for glaseinge St Mary's Church which was broak by the soldiers, £6;/10/-.

Oliver Cromwell, now Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, showed great sympathy for the town's plight because of its support for Parliament during the Civil War and the puritans ordered a national collection to be made in all English and Welsh parish churches to help Marlborough recover from the destruction. Metion of the collection is to be found in the records of many parishes and the Church is in possession of one such record, dated August 1653, from the little Somerset village of Isle Abbotts.

THE GREAT FIRE OF 1653
The mid-17^th century was a troubled times, ravages of war had been wrought upon the town by the Royalists, King Charles I had been executed in 1649 and the Puritans enforced their harsh rule under Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. In 1653 the town suffered its own singular disaster as the worst of a series of fires swept down the length of the High Street, surrounding the Church, and continued along Silverless Street to destroy the houses at the western end of The Green.

The flames of this great conflageration caught the roofs of the Church and, although the outer walls remained substantially intact, the fire which followed as the burning roofs fell into the Church devastated the interior. The Norman arcades became unsafe and had to be demolished; in that demolition, the stonework of the tower arch and the aisle windows was also damaged. The medieval chancel was also pulled down at this time. the total damage to the Church was estimated at £1,600.

THE REBUILDING OF THE CHURCH
After the disaster wreaked by the great fire, the church had virtually to be rebuilt within the old shell and this task seems to have been undertaken with considerable haste, the church being largely furnished within the year of the fire. The rebuilding, however, had been done along austere Puritan lines of the ruling Commonwealth and the new church was very different from its predecessor.

The Puritan notion of a church was of a preaching-house, a building plain and four-square, unadorned and without a chancel - the purpose of the chancel is to hold the altar but the Puritans considered that the altar was both pagan and popish and that its place should be taken by a table to be used in the body of the church.

Thus it is that the medieval chancel was pulled down and the St Mary's which we see today, with the north aisle built up to the same height as and merged into the nave, the flat ceilings of both nave and south aisle and the classical pillars with their simple carved capitals and plain arches, all so typical of the period. The church has thus become an interesting example of Church architecture during the rule of the Commonwealth.

18^th CENTURY
In 1707, galleries were built on the north, west and south sides of the nave. The north gallery was for the use of the scholars of the Free School, later Marlborough Grammar School, and in 1839, the Headmaster of the school was allowed a private staircase up to his pew.

To light the new galleries, four rectangular windows were made in the rough walling added to the north wall after the great fire of 1563. When the galleries were removed in the 19th century, these windows were blocked up again but their positions are still visible on the exterior of the north wall.

THE ROMAN GODDESS FORTUNA
During the 1874 restoration it was found that a number of stones had been built into the west wall by the 17^th century workmen. The oldest and most interesting of these is the much defaced Roman carving of the Goddess Fortuna which is dated about 300AD. It is now in the wall to the left of the Norman pillar and may have been brought to Marlborough from the Roman station Cunetio near the modern village of Mildenhall (two miles east of the town).

The dates are as follws;-
No. 1 - 1969; No. 2 - 1969; No. 3 - 1699 (but recast in 1922); No. 4 - 1653 (but recast in 1922); No. 5 - 1769; No. 6 - 1653; No. 7 - 1724; No. 8 - 1669 (but recast in 1922).

MONUMENTS
Of several well-designed monuments, the one in the north wall to Jane Scholes of Wroughton, 1733, carved by Richard Farmer of Swindon, is a particularly good one. The stained glass is 19^th and 20^th century.

ROYAL ARMS
THE ROYAL ARMS
The Royal Arms which hang on the south wall were painted in 1778. They used to hang (above the chancel arch - as was the custom since the Reformation) in St Peter's until 1862.