Ancient secrets of Merlin’s Barrow unearthed The Wiltshire
landscape around Avebury and Silbury Hill is at the heart of
prehistoric Britain, and has World Heritage designation. Now
another monument can be added to its archaeological treasures:
the Marlborough Mound. The Mound lies in the heart of the
grounds of Marlborough College, and has been interwoven with
local folklore for hundreds of years. The town’s motto, Ubi nunc
sapientis ossa Merlini (‘Where now are the bones of wise
Merlin?’), echoes the myth which convinced generations that
Merlin’s bones were buried under the Mound. These were the
seductive Arthurian legends that may have drawn the interest of
Tennyson and William Morris back to their connections with
Marlborough and its Mound – or ‘Merlin’s Barrow’, as the
burghers of the town claimed. Not only has the Mound stimulated
some of the region’s most enduring threads of mythology, it has
also been recognised as a feature of considerable historical
significance. It was the motte on which the keep of