Hardly a vestige of Marlborough Castle, the medieval stronghold, remains – above ground. What may still be concealed under the trees of the Wilderness is another matter; something in the way of foundations has already been revealed by our Archaeological Section in one of its periodic revivals, but that discovery, made during the War, told us nothing definite, and the attitude of successive Bursars to the resulting hole has been pardonably lacking in cordiality. When some of the larger trees fall, as they are likely to do soon, we may learn more. In the meantime some digging in the Mound suggests that at least the dimensions of the Keep may be recovered, though there again successive alterations make it difficult to reach certain conclusions.

If some familiar, like Mr Bligh Bond’s Brother Johannes, would impart the information we stand in need of, the task of reconstructing the Castle – at least for the mind’s eye – might be simpler. But Marlborough, for all its Arthurian associations, has been less fortunate than Glastonbury. If the thing could be done, there are a number of men who might be invited to testify. Long contact with their activities, as heralded in Letters Patent, enjoined in Letters Close, acknowledged on the Liberate Rolls or recorded in various Ministers’ Accounts, has made them almost friends. Alexander Barentin, the King’s butler, might tell us much about the wine-cellars; William the balestier, who had charge of the King’s artillery, could explain a great deal that must for ever remain obscure in the domestic and military arrangements of the High Tower; and Simon Horn, sent down in 1222 to remodel the farm-management of the Barton, stayed long enough in these parts to see the greater part of the remodeling of the Castle as well. But if any man of the thirteenth century might be induced to revisit the glimpses of the moon, my choice would be a certain Keeper of the King’s wardrobe. It is true he went on to higher things, but he was here in those brave but anxious middle years of his century, and, if he could tell us little else, he might at least reveal something of the personality of a man who could rise to positions of dignity and honour though his name was – Peter Chacepork.