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Newmarket, Suffolk
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Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global centre for thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse training, breeding, and horse health. Two Classic races and three British Champions Series races are held at Newmarket every year. The town has had close royal connections since the time of James I, who built Newmarket Palace, and was also a base for Charles I, Charles II, and most monarchs since. Elizabeth II visited the town often to see her horses in training.
Newmarket has over fifty horse training stables, two large racetracks, the Rowley Mile and the July Course, and one of the most extensive and prestigious horse training grounds in the world. The town is home to over 3,500 racehorses, and it is estimated that one in every three local jobs is related to horse racing. Palace House, the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, the National Horseracing Museum, Tattersalls racehorse auctioneers, and two of the world's foremost equine hospitals for horse health, are in the town, which is surrounded by over sixty horse breeding studs. On account of its leading position in the multibillion-pound horse racing and breeding industry, it is also a major export centre.
Newmarket's name was first recorded in Latin as Novo Mercato in 1219, The Novum Forum c.1200 recorded in many placename dictionaries such as that by Mills, is an error; this was actually the surname de novo foro of a man from Yorkshire who had no connection to Newmarket. In 1223, Richard de Argentein was granted licence to hold an annual fair in Newmarket (from The National Archives, Henry III Fine Roll C60/18).
James I first visited Newmarket in February 1605, describing it as a "poor little village" but seeing the potential of Newmarket Heath for hare coursing. From 1606 to 1610, he built the Newmarket Palace, an estate covering 1 acre (4,000 square metres) of land from the High Street to All Saints' churchyard, and thus established the town as a royal resort. This also made Newmarket a horseracing town. The first palace building suffered from subsidence and sank on one side when King James was in residence in March 1613. Simon Basil, and later, Inigo Jones, were commissioned to build new lodgings for the King and the Prince of Wales. Jones's design had three storeys and was Italianate in style.
In 1642, Charles I met a parliamentary deputation in Newmarket that demanded his surrender of the armed forces. "By God not for an hour", Charles replied, "You have asked such of me that was never asked of a King!" This effectively started the English Civil War. Newmarket had Royalist sympathies in the Civil war, unsuccessfully trying to raise at the start of the war. In early June 1647, Charles was captured at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire and brought to Newmarket as a prisoner. He was placed under house arrest for two weeks in the palace while the whole of Cromwell's New Model Army kept guard over the town. In 1648 there was serious fighting in the market place as the town attempted to rise for the King in the Second English Civil War.
Between 1666 and 1685, Charles II often visited Newmarket. In 1668, he commissioned William Samwell to build a new palace on the High Street (on the site later occupied by the United Reformed Church, and then by The Stable Community Centre). However, in 1670, John Evelyn said that the palace was "meane enough, and hardly capable for a hunting house, let alone a royal palace!" In October 1677 and October 1695, William of Orange visited Newmarket.
In 1791 the Prince of Wales' horse Escape, ridden by Samuel Chifney, lost a race and then won one the next day, raising suspicions he'd lost the first race on purpose to raise the betting odds. Jockey Club stewards Charles Bunbury, Ralph Dutton and Thomas Panton told the prince that if he continued to employ Chifney, "no gentleman would start against him". The prince instead announced he would no longer race at all. He sold his stable and, despite pleas from the Jockey Club, never returned to Newmarket.
At the start of the 19th century, the palace was largely demolished, but a section survives and is now named Palace House. During the 1800s, Newmarket south of the High Street spread into the parishes of Woodditton and Cheveley in Cambridgeshire. In 1894, the county border was moved to accommodate this, and has been further altered since.
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Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global centre for thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse training, breeding, and horse health. Two Classic races and three British Champions Series races are held at Newmarket every year. The town has had close royal connections since the time of James I, who built Newmarket Palace, and was also a base for Charles I, Charles II, and most monarchs since. Elizabeth II visited the town often to see her horses in training.
Newmarket has over fifty horse training stables, two large racetracks, the Rowley Mile and the July Course, and one of the most extensive and prestigious horse training grounds in the world. The town is home to over 3,500 racehorses, and it is estimated that one in every three local jobs is related to horse racing. Palace House, the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art, the National Horseracing Museum, Tattersalls racehorse auctioneers, and two of the world's foremost equine hospitals for horse health, are in the town, which is surrounded by over sixty horse breeding studs. On account of its leading position in the multibillion-pound horse racing and breeding industry, it is also a major export centre.
Newmarket's name was first recorded in Latin as Novo Mercato in 1219, The Novum Forum c.1200 recorded in many placename dictionaries such as that by Mills, is an error; this was actually the surname de novo foro of a man from Yorkshire who had no connection to Newmarket. In 1223, Richard de Argentein was granted licence to hold an annual fair in Newmarket (from The National Archives, Henry III Fine Roll C60/18).
James I first visited Newmarket in February 1605, describing it as a "poor little village" but seeing the potential of Newmarket Heath for hare coursing. From 1606 to 1610, he built the Newmarket Palace, an estate covering 1 acre (4,000 square metres) of land from the High Street to All Saints' churchyard, and thus established the town as a royal resort. This also made Newmarket a horseracing town. The first palace building suffered from subsidence and sank on one side when King James was in residence in March 1613. Simon Basil, and later, Inigo Jones, were commissioned to build new lodgings for the King and the Prince of Wales. Jones's design had three storeys and was Italianate in style.
In 1642, Charles I met a parliamentary deputation in Newmarket that demanded his surrender of the armed forces. "By God not for an hour", Charles replied, "You have asked such of me that was never asked of a King!" This effectively started the English Civil War. Newmarket had Royalist sympathies in the Civil war, unsuccessfully trying to raise at the start of the war. In early June 1647, Charles was captured at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire and brought to Newmarket as a prisoner. He was placed under house arrest for two weeks in the palace while the whole of Cromwell's New Model Army kept guard over the town. In 1648 there was serious fighting in the market place as the town attempted to rise for the King in the Second English Civil War.
Between 1666 and 1685, Charles II often visited Newmarket. In 1668, he commissioned William Samwell to build a new palace on the High Street (on the site later occupied by the United Reformed Church, and then by The Stable Community Centre). However, in 1670, John Evelyn said that the palace was "meane enough, and hardly capable for a hunting house, let alone a royal palace!" In October 1677 and October 1695, William of Orange visited Newmarket.
In 1791 the Prince of Wales' horse Escape, ridden by Samuel Chifney, lost a race and then won one the next day, raising suspicions he'd lost the first race on purpose to raise the betting odds. Jockey Club stewards Charles Bunbury, Ralph Dutton and Thomas Panton told the prince that if he continued to employ Chifney, "no gentleman would start against him". The prince instead announced he would no longer race at all. He sold his stable and, despite pleas from the Jockey Club, never returned to Newmarket.
At the start of the 19th century, the palace was largely demolished, but a section survives and is now named Palace House. During the 1800s, Newmarket south of the High Street spread into the parishes of Woodditton and Cheveley in Cambridgeshire. In 1894, the county border was moved to accommodate this, and has been further altered since.
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