Hundreds of people young and old lined the High Street in Marlborough today to see a little bit of history when the first ever Army unit was given the Freedom of Entry to the Town.

The ancient honour bestowed on 4 Military Intelligence Battalion, whose base is in Bulford on Salisbury Plain, gives the soldiers the right to march through the town on ceremonious occasions with bayonets fixed, bands playing and flags flying, according the citation read out by town clerk Liam Gallagher.

More than 160 soldiers from the battalion marched into the town centre from Marlborough College where the Mayor, Alexander Kirk Wilson, together with the General Officer Commanding Theatre Troops, Major General Shaun Burley, inspected the troops in a private ceremony.

The men and women of 4MIB led by their Commanding Officer Lt Col Ben Kite and headed by the Light Cavalry Band marched to a saluting dais outside Lloyds Bank where the mayor with Maj Gen Burley took the salute before Coun Kirk Wilson presented campaign medals to 36 soldiers who had recently returned from Afghanistan.

After the town clerk read the official proclamation giving the battalion the freedom of the town the soldiers fixed their bayonets to their SA80 rifles and marched from the town centre to the Second World War memorial in New Road and back again.

Children from St Mary’s Infants and St Peter’s Junior Schools were joined by hundreds of townspeople and visitors.

4MIB is the first Army unit ever to be given the Freedom of Marlborough although it was bestowed in 1996 on the crew of the former HMS Marlborough. The link with the Royal Navy was severed when the Government took the Type 23 Frigate out of service five years ago under defence spending cuts.

At the college the mayor told the assembled troops: “I wanted to have a slightly more private occasion here to welcome you to the town and to say how very pleased we are to have the opportunity to grant 4 Military Intelligence Battalion the freedom of entry to the town.”

The mayor went on to say he was honoured to be presenting campaign medals to members who had served in Afghanistan and he added: “As chief citizen of the town I express our admiration for your loyal service in that theatre. Our respect for you remains constant and undimmed.”

At the ceremony in the High Street the mayor formally presented Lt Col Kite with the scroll conferring the Freedom of Entry on 4 MIB.