Situated in Marlborough's famous High Street, The Merchant's House is one of the finest middle-class houses in England. The House of Thomas Bayly was built following the Great Fire of Marlborough in 1653. A fine timber and brick building was constructed, its interior panelled, brilliant with wall paintings and with a commanding oak staircase.

Its position on Marlborough's lively High Street is a reminder it was both a shop and the home of a prosperous Puritan family. The Baylys lived through the English Civil War and the republican Commonwealth as well as the Great Fire in which they lost their previous house.

By careful conservation of the building and the use of appropriate seventeenth century furnishing, the Merchant's House Trust is bringing back to life the home of a family who lived through the most tumultuous but fascinating periods of English history. A substantial number of the original features survives and hidden painted decoration continues to be revealed. A garden has been re-created to the rear of the property with the construction and planting carefully researched to be as close as possible to a formal yet utilitarian garden belonging to a puritan family as might have existed in the mid to late seventeenth century. Planting includes culinary and medicinal herbs, box hedging and fruit trees.

We have become familiar with homes of the aristocracy; here is a rare opportunity to view the seventeenth century house of a family of 'the middling sort'. The on-going conservation makes the Merchant's House a special and unusual place to visit.

The House is open to visitors from Easter to October with guided tours only on Mondays at 11.30am and 1.30pm, and Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 10.30am, 12.00pm, 1.30pm and 3.00pm. Group visits throughout the year by arrangement. Tickets are £7.50 adults, £1 Under 16s.

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