Historic door returns to Marlborough high street

David Chandler from Marlborough History Society said the door carvings represented different periods in the town's history

A door which is nearly 100 years old has been restored and re-hung on a Wiltshire high street.

The Free’s Door is one of Marlborough’s lesser-known original features and was created by a craftsman of the Free family in 1925.

The door now sits between Greggs and Crew Clothing.

It has been restored by craftsman Andrew Brennan, supported by the Marlborough History Society.

It is made up of 12 individual panels each with a different theme.

First charter commemorated

David Chandler, from Marlborough History Society, told BBC Radio Wiltshire: “The top row represents Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

"On the next row is Portcullis and Marlborough Castle, and the rose of England. We then have a masonic symbol, Thomas Free was a very keen freemason.

“On the middle row is a cat carrying her kittens. That comes from a legend of the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653, which destroyed the whole town.

“The bottom row represents craftsman’s tools, and the very bottom is a big panel which commemorates the first charter of Marlborough granted by King John.”

The door leads into the back of Hughenden Yard, where the Free family lived.

The door is between two shops in Marlborough

The family was a key part of Marlborough society, also creating woodwork on shopfronts which remains today.

“They came here from Hughenden in Hertfordshire where they learnt how to work Sarsens stones which are incredibly hard. They had a method of working it,” David said.

“Above the door on the first floor are some lovely carvings, which show coats of arms relating to the charters that Marlborough Borough was given. The matching woodwork is also on the two shopfronts on either side.

“In Marlborough there is another Free door on the green, but that was carved much later in the 1950s.”