The history of C1

Theo W-B (Re)

The history of C1 can be split into 3 clear sections: the home of the Seymour family, the Castle Inn and C1 as a part of Marlborough College.

Seymour Family

The history of C1 starts with the House of Seymour. On the C1 section of the Marlborough College website it states: “…it was originally the home of the Seymour family…”. Following on off this information, I researched about the Seymour family and was surprised to find that they are originally from Wales. During the 13th century, the Seymour family was living in Monmouthshire, Wales. Originally the family was called St.Maur which was then later distilled into Seymour. St.Maur comes from William St Maur who was assisted by the Earl of Pembroke to seize Woundy and Penhow, a village in Monmouthshire, from the Welsh.

A later son of the Seymour family, Roger Seymour, married Cecily de Beauchamp in 1393, a daughter of John III de Beauchamp who was the feudal baron of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. Through this marriage, Roger Seymour expanded the Seymour family south, laying claim to John Beauchamp’s extensive estates in Somerset. That is how the Seymour family made the shift to an area closer to Marlborough.

In 1590, Francis Seymour is said to have lived in C1. The Marlborough Castle was in ruins by 1403 and it is believed that Francis Seymour was the one to replace the castle with a mansion as a new home for the Seymour Family, that most likely stood in the place of C1 today, although it would have been rebuilt in the early 18th century. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament for Wiltshire in 1621 and as an MP for Marlborough in 1624, when he was 34. Sir Francis Seymour can be traced back to Roger Seymour who married Cecily Beauchamp, proving a clear link between this marriage and the expansion of the Seymour family into the Marlborough area, castle and C1. Roger Seymour is Sir Francis Seymour’s great-great-great-great-greatgrandfather. There is still evidence of the remnants of the Seymour family in the local area. In fact, one of the Seymour family members is buried in the nearby village of Great Bedwyn.

The Castle Inn

The next part of C1’s history was its life as an inn which served as a stop point for travellers to and from London to Bath. The popularity of the inn was at its highest before the construction of the Great Western Railway, the absence of which led to many coaches, estimated at about 100 a day, making this journey either way and in need of a place to stop. Marlborough, being situated somewhat in between these two destinations, served as an above adequate rest point.

The grounds of the Castle Inn went all the way down to the River Kennet. The inn was called this because of the castle previously situated around the Neolithic mound. The mound still remains here to this day and sits at the centre of Marlborough College. The construction of the railway was a direct threat to the inn and its flood of customers. In an attempt to stop the Castle Inn from shutting down “local magnates opposed the railway, and drove it away from the town to a longer route along the Thames Valley.” Despite these efforts the Castle Inn was still out of business since, because of this diversion, traffic left the road that crossed the Castle Inn to Bath and London, resulting in the customers also not staying at the Inn. The Great Western Railway’s first route was completed in 1841, two years before the foundation of the College. It was in these two years that the Castle Inn saw its demise and was eventually left vacant. However, this left an opportunity that was capitalised on leading to the foundation of Marlborough College, so the emptiness of the Castle Inn may not have been such a bad happening after all.

C1 Marlborough College

Capitalising on the vacancy of the Castle Inn at the time, a group of Church of England clergymen wished to found a boarding school in order to educate “the sons of clergy.” The College opened in August, 1843 with C1 at its centre and an admission of 199 boys. Marlborough College had an unfortunate beginning with a rebellion, by their 500 or so pupils at the time, in November 1851 not only down to the conditions the pupils went through but some outrage at the fees at the time, which were priced differently according to status. Sons of laity would pay 50 guineas a year whereas sons of the clergy paid 30 guineas. This rebellion and damaging start led to a decline in the number pupils attending and “the College sank heavily into debt, its future in jeopardy.”

The revival that the College so desperately needed was brought by two consecutive and successful Heads, previously from Rugby School. These Heads set Marlborough College on the path that led it to where it is now. Marlborough College was eager to introduce girls into the school, in fact it was the “first boys boarding school to admit girls in to the Sixth Form” in 1968. The College proceeded to become fully co-ed 21 years later.

C1 now stands at the centre of Marlborough College and is the first thing one sees as they step into Court. It is one of the most applied for boarding houses with 52 boys currently attending Marlborough as a part of C1. This once home to the Seymour family, built up from around the ruins of the old Marlborough Castle and the Neolithic situated around it, then a successful coaching inn which came to a somewhat abrupt ending with the advancement of locomotives and public transport, was seen as an opportunity by a group of clergymen. Although it may not have been the school everyone knows today upon opening, with C1 as an integral part of the school, it eventually reached its status and standard of education that it holds today.

Bibliography https://www.marlboroughcollege.org/full-boarding/houses/c1/ https://www.marlboroughcollege.org/explore/our-history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Seymour,_2nd_Baron_Seymour_of_Trowbridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Seymour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Seymour,_Lord_Beauchamp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Seymour,_1st_Earl_of_Hertford https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Seymour,_1st_Duke_of_Somerset https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(1474%E2%80%931536) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(died_1491) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(1425%E2%80%931463) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Seymour_(died_1464) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Seymour,_5th_Duke_of_Somerset https://www.jstor.org/stable/25100775?seq=8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway https://www.britannica.com/place/Marlborough-England#ref709020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlborough_College https://lifestory.group/renaissance/news-and-events/the-infamous-marlborough-college/

As well as Google scholar and other articles used in order to fact-check and acquire citations for facts and evidence used.