Marina Road is to the south east of Salisbury. It leads off from Tollgate Road down towards the college.
The derivation of the name ‘Marina Road’ is a bit of a puzzle. I can’t see any clear reason for the name.
Is Marina Road’s name related to Saint Martin’s?
One possibility is that it is a reference to Saint Martin’s Church. The words ‘Marina’ and ‘Martin’ are similar, and Marina Road is very close to the church – I think one side of the road would back onto the churchyard.
I think a connection with St Martin’s is unlikely though. The female form of Martin is Martina, and in any case, why would a road be named after a name which is just close to the name of the church. The words have different roots too. ‘Martin’ is related to Mars, the god of war, whereas ‘Marina’ is related to the sea.
Is Marina Road related to the sea?
More fancifully still, perhaps Marina Road is an obscure reference to the idea of Salisbury being a ‘sea-port’. I’m on very shakey ground here , because I’m not sure I remember it correctly, but I believe there was an attempt to build a canal from Salisbury to Southampton.
I’ve seen the word ‘Navigation’ on maps to the south of Southampton Road – whether this is related or not I don’t know.
I think there was an article about the Salisbury to Southampton canal in a ‘Sarum Chronicle’ a couple of years ago. I’ll look it up when I’m next in the library.
Is Marina Road a reference to somebody’s name?
My guess would be that Marina Road is probably named after somebody called Marina. Perhaps the developer was called Marina, or had a close relative with the name.
Visiting Stonehenge?
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