Marlow, Buckinghamshire

The name is recorded in 1015 as Mere lafan, meaning "Land left after the draining of a pond" in Old English.[3]

From Norman times the manor, parish, and later borough were formally known as Great Marlow, distinguishing them from Little Marlow. The ancient parish was large, including rural areas north and west of the town. In 1896 the civil parish of Great Marlow was divided into Great Marlow Urban District (the town) and Great Marlow civil parish (the rural areas). In 1897 the urban district was renamed Marlow Urban District,[4] and the town has been known simply as Marlow.

A map of Marlow from 1945

Marlow is recorded in the Domesday Book as Merlaue.[5]

Magna Britannia includes the following entry for Marlow: "The manor of Marlow, which had belonged to the Earls of Mercia, was given by William the Conqueror, to his Queen Matilda. Henry the First, bestowed it on his natural son, Robert de Melhent, afterwards Earl of Gloucester, from whom it passed, with that title, to the Clares and Despencers, and from the latter, by female heirs, to the Beauchamps and Nevilles, Earls of Warwick. It continued in the crown from the time of Richard III's marriage with Anne Neville, until Queen Mary granted it to William Lord Paget, in whose family it continued more than a century; after which, it passed, by purchase, to Sir Humphrey Winch, in 1670; to Lord Falkland in 1686; to Sir James Etheridge in 1690; to Sir John Guise in 1718; and to Sir William Clayton in 1736. It is now the property of Sir William Clayton bart. a descendant of the last purchaser".[6]

Marlow owed its importance to its location on the River Thames, where the road from Reading to High Wycombe crosses the river. It had its own market by 1227 (hence the name Chipping Marlow), although the market lapsed before 1600. Marlow's status as a regional commercial centre was present even before the first bridge in this area was built in the 13th century due to the settlement acting as an inland port.[7]

A 14th century hall, known as 'The Old Parsonage' built in Marlow on St Peters Street is currently the oldest inhabited building in Buckinghamshire.[7]

From 1301 to 1307, the town had its own Member of Parliament, and it returned two members from 1624 to 1867.[4]

The population of Great Marlow was 4,480 by 1841.[8]

Marlow is adjoined by Marlow Bottom, a mile to the north. Little Marlow is nearby to the east along the A4155 Little Marlow Road and Bourne End is further along the same road. To the south across the Thames are Bisham (home of Bisham Abbey) and Cookham Dean, both in Berkshire.

There has been a bridge over the Thames at Marlow since the reign of King Edward III.[9] The current bridge is a suspension bridge, designed by William Tierney Clark in 1832, and it was constructed by 1835. It was a prototype for and is twinned with[10] the much larger Széchenyi Chain Bridge across the River Danube in Budapest.[11]

Royal Military College, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, 1810

The Junior Wing of the Royal Military College, which is now based at Sandhurst, was once based at Remnantz, a large house in West Street, built in the early 18th century.[12]

The former Marlow Town Hall

Marlow Town Hall, which later became a hotel and then a shop, was completed in 1807.[13]

The Hand & Flowers has earned 2 Michelin stars

The Hand & Flowers, the first gastropub to hold two Michelin stars, is located on West Street.[14] It is one of several local pubs serving award-winning beers brewed locally, in Marlow Bottom, by the Rebellion Beer Company.

Marlow is the location of Marlow Lock, originating from the 14th century.[15]

Marlow Lock house from the depths of the lock

Sign on the bridge to Marlow

Marlow is twinned with

• Marly-le-Roi, France, since 1980.[16][17]
• Budavár, a district of Budapest, Hungary.[18]

The A4155 road runs through Marlow town centre, with the A404 lying one mile to the east, the M40 motorway further to the north, and the M4 motorway to the south.

Marlow is served by a railway station which is the terminus of a single-track branch line from Maidenhead. The train service is known as the Marlow Donkey, which was the nickname given to the steam locomotives that once operated on the line. There is also a pub with the same name, located close to the railway station.

Bus services are provided by Arriva Shires & Essex to neighbouring towns, including High Wycombe, Henley-on-Thames and Reading.

All Saints Church from Marlow suspension bridge

Education is provided by several schools, including:

• Great Marlow School (11–18)
• Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (11–18)
• Burford School (4–11)
• Danesfield School (4–11)
• Foxes Piece School (4–11)
• Holy Trinity Church of England School (7–11)
• Marlow Church of England Infant School (4–7)
• Spinfield School (4–11)
• St Peter's Catholic Primary School (4–11)

There are two tiers of local government covering Marlow, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Marlow Town Council, and Buckinghamshire Council.

Court Garden, Pound Lane: Council offices since 1934.

Marlow Town Council was established in 1974 as a successor parish to the former Marlow Urban District Council, which had been created in 1896. The urban district council had been based at Court Garden House since 1934, and the town council continues to be based there. Between 1974 and 2020 the town was also included in the Wycombe District, based in High Wycombe. The county and district councils merged in 2020 to become the unitary Buckinghamshire Council.

Marlow is divided into three wards for electing town councillors: North & West, South and South East.[19] There are a total of twelve Marlow Town Councillors elected from these wards. The wards have seven, two and three seats respectively.[19] Since 2011,[20] the Town Council has been entirely Conservative with several councillors "double-hatting" across town and county council.[19] The town forms a single ward with three councillors for electing councillors to Buckinghamshire Council.[21]

In the 2021 local elections, a group of independent candidates contested eleven out of the twelve seats. They worked under the banner "Independents for Marlow"[22] and were inspired by similar actions in Frome, High Wycombe,[23] and other places, part of the "flatpack democracy" movement. None were successful and all twelve seats were held by Conservatives.[24]

Notable current and former residents in approximate birth order.

• Sir William Borlase, a british politician born in the 17th century. In 1624 he founded Sir William Borlase Grammar School in the town of Marlow[32] in memory of his son Henry Borlase MP for Greater Marlow.[33]
• Dr William Battie, an eminent 18th-century physician specialising in mental illness, built and lived in Court Garden House from 1758 until his death in 1776. Local lore has it that he forgot to include a staircase to the first floor, so it had to be added later.[34] In 1789 his daughter sold the house to Richard Davenport, High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, who lived there for 10 years,[35] during which, Court Garden was described in Boydells History of the River Thames (1793), as "a fine Georgian house standing on a gentle eminence, a lawn of some extent descending gradually from it to the river." In 1926 the estate was saved for the people of Marlow, largely due to the efforts of local resident and Crimean War veteran General George Higginson, after whom Higginson Park is named.[36]
• Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley moved into a house in West Street in 1816. He composed The Revolt of Islam there in 1817, while Mary worked on Frankenstein. Thomas Love Peacock, who had suggested Shelley move to the town, wrote his novel Nightmare Abbey (1818) at a nearby house.[37]
• Cuthbert Ottaway played for Marlow F.C. He was the first captain of the England football team and led his side in the first official international football match (1872).[38]
• Jerome K. Jerome wrote part of Three Men in a Boat at a local pub, the Two Brewers.[39]
• T. S. Eliot lived in West Street during the First World War.[40]

Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley's house in Marlow

• Marlow Bottom has become the home of quintuple Olympic gold medallist rower Steve Redgrave, Britain's only athlete to have won gold medals at five consecutive Olympics. Higginson Park features a bronze statue of Sir Steven looking across the river towards the location of the finishing line of the Marlow Town Regatta. He is also commemorated in Redgrave Place.
• The star chef Heston Blumenthal, owner of The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire (voted Best Restaurant in the World in 2005) lived in Marlow until about 2017.
• Actress Anna Acton was born in Marlow.
• Television and radio presenter Paul Ross, brother of Jonathan Ross, also lived in Marlow, having moved there after filming Celebrity Fit Club at nearby Bisham Abbey. He moved out of Marlow in 2013.[41]
• Japanese Formula One racing driver Takuma Sato was a Marlow resident, as was Bruno Senna, who lived in the same house.
• Pakistani cricketer and International Cricket Council (ICC) match Referee Wasim Raja lived in Marlow and worked as a cricket coach in a local school.
• Musician Jim Capaldi lived in Marlow for many years with his wife and two daughters until his death in 2005.
• England scrum-half and World Cup-winner Matt Dawson spent his childhood in Marlow and went to a local primary school.[42]
• Ireland Cricket Captain, Andrew Balbirnie, spent his early childhood living on Chapel Street in Marlow.
• Peter Firth, Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC MI5 drama Spooks, is a Marlow resident.
• Andrew Strauss, former England cricket captain, moved to Little Marlow with his family in 2010.
• Tom Kerridge, Michelin Star chef, lives in Marlow with his wife and son.
• Beth Cullen-Kerridge, sculptor, has lived in Marlow since 2005.
• Chris Evans (presenter), radio and television personality, bought a property in Marlow in June 2019.
• Ricky Gervais, actor and writer, owns a property in Marlow.[43]
• Shakin' Stevens, singer and songwriter, lives in Marlow.
• Rachel Burden, BBC Radio 5 Live presenter, grew up in Marlow.
• Naomi Riches MBE lives in Marlow and has a gold postbox on the High Street as a commemoration for winning gold in the London 2012 Paralympics for adaptive rowing.[44]

• Marlow was the subject of a poem by Joseph Ashby-Sterry, A Marlow Madrigal.[45]
• Reginald King composed 'June Night on Marlow Reach', a movement from his orchestral (or keyboard) suite In the Chilterns, in 1937.[46]

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  Court Garden House, former home of Dr William Battie
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  Rowers on the Thames at Marlow
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  Marlow High Street
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  Marlow Place
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  The Two Brewers, where Jerome K Jerome wrote much of Three Men in a Boat
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  The Compleat Angler, Marlow
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  Looking towards Marlow from Marlow Lock
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  Marlow Lock
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  Former Royal Military College, Marlow 1802-1812
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  Former Wethered Brewery, Marlow

• Marlow Town Council
• MyMarlow.co.uk – community website with event listings, pub and restaurant reviews; a guide to living in and visiting the town

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