The name game: more history emerges as search nears close of play

After its rejection of the developers’ preferred name for the new road that used to be the council depot off the Salisbury Road, the town council’s planning committee agreed that ‘Priory Court’ would be appropriate.  

It was one of two more names put forward by Beechcroft who are building the care home on the Old Depot site.  The other was ‘Canons Place’ – apparently shorn of an apostrophe.

The rejected names were Marlebridge Place or Gardens – after the name used for part of Marlborough in the Middle Ages.

Councillors were told that Priory Court reflected the ancient Priory of the Gilbertines founded by St Gilbert of Sempringham that once stood nearby – the friars’ graveyard lies under the present Salisbury Road.

A Marlborough resident had suggested that Sempringham should be used for this road to confirm the connection with St Gilbert.  

But it was pointed out that there is already a Sempringham Court off the western side of Salisbury Road near George Lane.  And avoidance of confusion – for postmen and others – is one of the key rules of the name game.

The priory was dedicated to St Margaret – hence St Margaret’s Mead.  It was closed in 1539 – thanks to Thomas Cromwell – and the premises were briefly held by Anne of Cleves, who, it should be noted, does not appear in Wolf Hall.