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Newmarket is a unique market town
with a fascinating history.
Newmarket stands on the prehistoric Icknield Way, used by travellers
to cross Newmarket Heath. Eventually the Normans were to divide
the country into manors, held by their nobles, at which point Newmarket
entered written history.
In 1200 A.D. Sir Richard de Argentein married Cassandra, daughter
of the Lord of the Manor of Exning. Newmarket was gifted as part
of Cassandra’s marriage dowry. Sir Richard, now Lord of the
Manor of Newmarket, obtained permission from the King to hold weekly
markets, and by 1223 had permission to hold annual fairs.
The Medieval town is marked by small alleyways off the High Street,
which are the remnants of property boundaries. James I bought two
inns near the Jockey Club in the High Street to create a “palace”,
so that he could indulge in his passion for hunting. The first “palace”
was a ramshackle affair and collapsed with the King inside it! He
was pulled clear, unhurt, and appointed Inigo Jones to build a more
impressive building.
Charles I was a keen horseman and was credited with building the
first grandstand on Newmarket Heath. During the Civil War, he became
a prisoner in his palace in Newmarket, which later suffered damage
and decline.
The nobility began to build houses in the area and develop stud
farms. The arrival of the Jockey Club in 1752 was a major event
in the town’s history and its lease of a coffee house soon
turned into the permanent headquarters’ for the racing industry.
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