- Arrived there after being evicted from an illegal site in Berkshire
- Have told police they will refuse to move from the historic site
By Vanessa Allen and Mark Duell
|
Kate Middleton once honed her schoolgirl hockey skills there, and a young John Betjeman drew inspiration for his first poems.
But the playing fields of Marlborough College were host to a different type of boarder yesterday ? a convoy of travellers.
Visitors to the ?30,000-a-year school were greeted by the sight of cart horses grazing on the carefully tended sports fields, now a car park for seven caravans, two trucks and a tarmac lorry.
New arrivals: A horse grazes on the playing fields at Marlborough College yesterday after a convoy of travellers set up camp
Travellers speak to police in the grounds of the exclusive school
Children and their dogs used the fields as a playground, just weeks before the school?s more privileged pupils are due to return from their summer holidays.
Police were called to the school on Thursday after the convoy of some 15 caravans, cars, trucks and lorries pulled in through the school?s gates.
?
The 25-strong group of travellers had been evicted from an illegal camp site in Newbury, Berkshire, just hours earlier.
Police monitored the convoy until it crossed the Wiltshire county border but the travellers were then seemingly unchecked as they drove up Marlborough?s historic High Street and through the school gates.
Captain: Kate Middleton playing hockey during her days at Marlborough
They eventually came to a halt opposite the Elmhurst boarding house, where a young Kate Middleton was a sixth-former and house prefect, and was rumoured to have had a poster of Prince William on her wall.
She was also a hockey captain at the school, and would have spent long hours training on the playing fields, on the banks of the River Kennet.
Yesterday more caravans attempted to join the makeshift camp, but were blocked by police and private security guards.
Onlooker Jacqui Broadbridge said: ?We could hardly believe our eyes when this convoy of lorries, caravans and horseboxes drove through.?
A police spokesman said the travellers had said they would leave before Monday, adding: ?We are monitoring the situation.?
Jonathan Leigh, the master of Marlborough College, said: ?We are pursuing all legal steps to remove these people as soon as possible.?
If the travellers do not leave willingly, the school may have to consider legal action to evict them.
Ironically, it has just installed a multi-million pound security system upgrade but a worker said the convoy had used the only gate on the campus which could not be closed.
The estate worker, who asked not to be named, said: ?Not a spot of this place isn?t covered by a camera. But once they started pouring in there was no way to stop them.?
The school was founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, and is now considered one of Britain?s leading private schools.
Other alumni include Princess Eugenie and Prime Minister?s wife Samantha Cameron. War poet Siegfried Sassoon, singer Chris de Burgh and former poet laureate John Betjeman were also pupils.
Travellers have taken residence on the playing fields on the grounds of historic Malborough College in Wiltshire
A group of the travellers' children set out some chairs as they make themselves at home
Betjeman later wrote of his hatred of sports at the school, writing: ?The dread of beatings! Dread of being late! And, greatest dread of all, the dread of games!?
The school is described in the Good Schools Guide as a ?famous, designer label, co-ed boarding school?. It began admitting girls in 1968.
The Duchess of Cambridge (4th from left back row) was a member of the prestigious school's hockey team
Residents are furious that the travellers have chosen to use the beautiful grounds as their new site
Police say they are powerless to evict the travellers as the independent day school is private property
?
2012 dunk contest edgar vs henderson berkshire hathaway ufc 144 james jones james jones aladdin
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.