Marlborough by Gaslight: the Victorian Age

SPEAKER: Nick Baxter

Nick Baxter (MA) lectures widely on local history subjects and leads guided walks. For the past three years he has tutored on Discovering Marlborough’s History for Marlborough College Summer School.

Topic:
On December 2nd 1997 a “Victorian Extravaganza” was held in Marlborough High Street. Late night shopping was made available and a variety of stalls, displays and street entertainment provided. Just before the event, the Retort house, the last surviving part of the old Victorian gasworks, was unceremoniously demolished reflecting what the town really thought about its 19th century heritage.

Victorian Marlborough was a very different place to what it is now. The gasworks, prison, workhouse, tanneries, breweries, rope works and railway stations are all gone but they continue to cast a shadow.