At last Monday’s (22 October) meeting of the Finance & Policy Committee of the Town Council, Councillors agreed to an application for a grant towards the creation of a memorial to those involved in the Savernake Explosion of 1946 which took the lives of eight people.
The monument will be sited at High Walls, on New Road, immediately below St Mary’s Church. It will, in the words of the applicant, Col. Mark E Newman ‘provide a fitting commemoration of the bravery and self-sacrifice of the Army, Fire Brigade and rail workers who were able to prevent a catastrophic ammunition explosion which would have caused devastating damage to Marlborough. It will provide all residents and visitors easy access to the details of this remarkable event in the Town’s history.’
The grant agreed was for £1,500, a significant but minor element of the total cost of the project, estimated to be £9,900. Grants and sponsorship from other organisations will make up the difference.
There will be a presentation about the event and its memorial prior to the next meeting of the full Town Council on Monday 7 November. We understand that this will take place at 6.30pm, with the main meeting starting at 7pm, and we will report with further details after that presentation.
Probably Marlborough’s greatest disaster in historical record, it happened when wagons of an ammunition train exploded in one of the sidings adjacent to the former railway station. Reports from the period state of devastation with ‘of the 86 wagons left in the sidings nine had disappeared, 17 were totally wrecked and 14 others damaged’.
The eight who lost their lives were all servicemen, two of whom (both from the 283rd Company Pioneers Corps) were laid to rest with full military honours at the Marlborough Borough Cemetery.
50th Anniversary of the North Wessex Downs AONB to be celebrated at Marlborough Golf Club
