Railways had a massive impact on the life in the rural community when they arrived on the 31st May 1840. Which was when the Great Western Railway made the connection between Swindon and Cirencester , the first railway to be completed . Less than a month later GWR finished the line from London to Bristol . And from then on everything grew in size!
There was also a line which ran from Andover to Swindon via Marlborough. This was called the MSWJ system , there were two stations in Marlborough due to railway politics . One was at the higher level and the other at Savernake (Lower level). The Lower level station was located on the south side of Marlborough where today there are council offices at right angles to the A345 through Savernake Forest . The higher level station was a passenger station for 50 years from 1898, today it is a private residence and the owner has kept some degree of railway flavour this is where postern house it today.
When the lines where being built to Marlborough it was very hard to get round the geographical terrian so there was a tunnel built under Savernake forest which is still there today and used as a bat sanctuary . The tunnel has two parallel tracks with one going to the higher level station and the other going to Savernake Station.