Treacle Bolly

A Memory of Malborough.

My Father Frank Garrett was stationed, very early in the Second World War, in an Army Camp in the Treacle Bolly area, west of Malborough. As a Butcher by trade he was a, or maybe the ‘Mess’ Butcher for a field Mess, I think, in the area to the west of Malborough. He was billeted with a Mr & Mrs Twyman who probably lived in Malborough. I was aged 3 at the time and my Mother and I ‘visited Dad’ there, although I cannot recall where we stayed, but possibly with the Twymans. During this time in Wiltshire I was Christened and the Twyman’s son Jackey (he was a Royal Navy sailor who later in the War died at sea during enemy action) was my God Father.
I have always remembered Treacle Bolly as it is such a nice name, although I now understand that the name was given to the old main road from the west, before the new main A4 was built. The old road ran up and then down over Granham Hill and it was the downhill section that earned the “treacle” part because of its deep mud! This portion of the old road is still visible as a sunken lane on the east side of Granham Hill that ‘faces’ the town of Malborough.