The Mound Trust was the idea of Eric Elstob, who was at the College from 1956–60. It was established in January 2000, and its objective was defined as being ‘to restore, conserve, preserve and maintain the Mound at Marlborough College and its immediate curtilage as a place of historic and public interest’, and ‘to educate the public about the archaeological and historical significance and merits of the Mound including organised access by prior appointment.’

These objectives were described in more detail in a strategy paper in 2003, which set out the agenda for the Trust’s activities. It began with a statement of what was known about the Mound at that point, which makes interesting reading in the light of subsequent events.

The strategy proposed for the Trust was then divided into three headings: conservation, restoration and exploration. All of these activities are still ongoing, and what follows is a brief survey of progress to date.

Conservation

Throughout the work on the Mound, there has always been an underlying concern about the stability of its structure, in the light of instances where interventions or natural occurrences have led to substantial damage to similar sites. The subsidence at Silbury Hill in 2000 as the result of earlier excavations and the collapse of part of Oxford castle motte in 2007 were very much in mind. One of the first projects was the installation of stability monitors, which fortunately have shown that the Marlborough Mound is not inherently in danger.