By F. A. Carrington, Esq. 109 
“The Children crying for bread, the parents had none to give them, nor so 
much as a House to put their heads in, nor a bed to lay their weary limbs upon. 
‘And thus were the poore made poorer, and some of the richest became as 
poore as the poorest. 
«And now are they all in a sad condition, the Lord in his mercy send them 
comfort; Little did they that had plenty in the morning thinke that they should 
be made destitute and desolate before night. 
“One thing concerning Marlborough we have great cause to give the Lord 
praise for, and that is this, although there were so many Houses burnt, and so 
much goods and treasure consumed with scorching Fire, yet there were not 
many people destroyed, only those which shall be hereafter spoken of. 
‘There were foure Dutchmen which laboured and took pains and did their 
best endeavours to quench the Fire, of which two of them were killed outright, 
and the other two are since dead of their wounds. Of others, there were none 
save a Post Boy that lost his life, and a Taylor’s wife burned to death in her 
owne House; and as for Francis Freeman the Tanner, at whose House at first 
the Fire began, it is said that he profest himselfe to be Christ, I pray God that 
hee may take heed in time.” 
Mr. T. Baverstock Merriman has a list of the names of the 
sufferers from this fire, and the amount of the loss of each. 
The number of sufferers is four hundred and seven, and the total 
amount of the losses is sixty three thousand six hundred and 
eighteen pounds, including one thousand pounds for the Market 
House, and one thousand six hundred pounds for damage done to 
St. Mary’s Church. 
When the town was restored after the fire, the Market House 
shown in the plate was erected. The clearing out of the area 
seems to have commenced soon after the fire, and no doubt the 
new building was rising before the end of the year. The columns 
supporting it belonged to its predecessor, (the one built in 1631), 
and possibly to the one before that, the Elizabethan; as their cha- 
racter is not quite distinct. 
The engraving of the one here shown, first appeared in the 
European Magazine for May, 1793, p. 368; with a short notice 
calling attention to the singularity of its construction, in having 
two stories in the roof. 
By the year 1793, this building had become very much out of 
repair. The County Magistrates also complained of it as very in- 
convenient; and the Corporation of Marlborough, fearing that the 
Michzlmas County Quarter Sessions would be removed from the 
