Newmarket

“ Newmarket is, indeed, worth seeing on the morning of one of the big days, like the Cambridgeshire, to form any idea of the enormous multitude of people attending. It is well worth while to get into the stand at the end of the Rowley Mile as soon as you can, and a most wonderful sight it is to see the huge and incessant mass of people pouring down the side of the course from the old stand; one unbroken stream, many yards wide, and apparently never ending, yet perfectly quiet and orderly; no rough horseplay or rowdyism; composed of men who come for racing, and nothing else. ”

“ The townsfolk of Newmarket reaped a golden harvest; lodgings for the press of visitors were at fancy prices, and many were glad to pay a guinea a night for even the third of a bed; and "at Cambridge," we read, "a hackney-horse is not to be got for money."
When Newmarket became only one of many racing centres throughout the land, this height of glory naturally departed. But to this day its meetings rank in the very first class of such fixtures. And as a training ground for race-horses it stands second to none. ”

“ Newmarket is termed, and justly so, the metropolis of racing, but a greater contrast than Newmarket presents during the race-weeks and the rest of the year can scarcely be imagined. Any one who stood on the top of the hill on the Cambridge road, and looked down the main street, in one of the off-weeks, would think that he had hardly ever seen such a desolate forsaken-looking sort of place; the only living things to be seen being a few old women standing at the corners of the streets scratching their elbows, and two or three lads lounging about. ”

“ That grim and silent monarch does not bulk largely as a sportsman in the minds of most people, yet he was a supporter of Newmarket, and we actually find him in October, 1689, the year after his accession, performing the extraordinarily quick journey of Hampton Court to Newmarket in one day, a feat then rightly considered surprising. He figures on one occasion as a reckless, unlucky, and infuriated plunger at cards. ”

“ Built to hold a thousand people, here it squats, an emptiness; the only sounds those in the long sombre belt of firs, whose branches sway with a sound of the sea in the airs that sweep the breezy Heath.
Newmarket is first mentioned in 1227, when it seems to have been established in consequence of an epidemic raging at the mother-parish of Exning, about two miles away. This “old market” of Exning, now a village, owes its name, say some, to the Iceni, but it is much more likely to have derived from the Celtic word “Exe,” for water, for the springs there are a feature of the place. ”

“ Travellers were shy of venturing into the glades of Epping Forest, infested beyond the ordinary run with dangerous characters, and rather braved the rigours of the open downs than encounter the terrors of the shrouded woodlands. James I., with his passion for the chase and his hunting-palace at Royston, early established a fox-hunting lodge at Newmarket, and had, with his magnificent palace of Theobalds, at Cheshunt, a series of reasons for travelling this route. ”

“ Newmarket was again justice itinerant for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in 1225; for these counties and for Cambridge, Huntingdon, Essex, and Hertford in 1232; and for Yorkshire and Northumberland in 1234. He was employed in the collection of the fifteenth in Yorkshire in 1226. The date of his death is uncertain, but it was previous to 1247, for in that year his grandson, Adam, son of John de Newmarket, did livery for his lands (Excerpt. e Rot. Finium, ii. 19) . ”

“ Newmarket may truly be styled the classic ground of racing, and it is there only that this delightful sport may be said to exist in perfection. No crowd, no booths impede the view; none of those discordant noises which make a perfect babel of other racecourses distract the attention. The number of spectators seldom exceeds 500, and they are mostly of the higher classes, the majority on horseback, with perhaps a few close carriages and barouches. ”

“ There was this day a collection for rebuilding Newmarket, consumed by an accidental fire, which removing his Majesty thence sooner than was intended, put by the assassins, who were disappointed of their rendezvous and expectation by a wonderful providence. This made the King more earnest to render Winchester the seat of his autumnal field diversions for the future, designing a palace there, where the ancient castle stood; infinitely indeed preferable to Newmarket for prospects, air, pleasure, and provisions. ”

“ The town owes its prosperity to the horse-races. The race-course of Newmarket, upward of four miles in length, is said to be the finest in the world, and the training ground bears a similar reputation for excellence. ”

“ But now the wind shifts, and we find, after all, that Newmarket is like to be our destination. It is about ten miles ahead, and as we make towards it we are confident that the good old farmer standing below will never allow any man to tell him that he never saw a steering balloon. ”

“ The natural idea of anyone attending for the first time is that there will be an awful crush; but such is the excellence of Newmarket as a racecourse that there is none whatever, and every one, either on foot or in the stand, can see every race from start to finish, with the exception of those run on the Cesarewitch course, and then no one can see the horses until they come into the straight, with the exception of a bare sight of the start, and a glimpse of them as they pass the Gap, which may be caught by keen-eyed people in the stand. ”

“ Seeing that a horse is everything at Newmarket, we propose to visit some of the homes of the finest thoroughbreds in the world. As we leave the station yard a fine view of the famous Heath lies before us. To the right the great expanse of green slopes up towards a fine cluster of trees, known as Warren Hill. We can just catch sight of the spires of Warren Tower, and a distant view of Mr. Gurry's training establishment; we have an excellent view of Sefton Lodge, the Newmarket home of the Duchess of Montrose ”

“ Tattersall was not only powerful at Newmarket, but popular as well; and in those days, when Highway-men infested all the roads leading into this place where money flowed so freely, was the only man who could with impunity go back and forth, unattended and unarmed, with his pockets full of gold. ”

“ We hear nothing from Newmarket, but that they devise all the means they can to make themselves merry, as of late there was a feast appointed at a farm-house not far off, where every man should bring his dish. ”

“ Since then numerous changes have occurred at Newmarket, the sacred heath having even on occasions been invaded by "the roughs." At one period the place was doubtless all that has been pictured, and, as "head-quarters," the metropolis of the turf, it has always been of importance to racing men, and a well-known seat of training for horses and riders. As many probably as 1,000 race-horses of all ages, it has been computed, are housed in the training stables of Newmarket. ”

“ The town of Newmarket is now wholly in Suffolk, although till a few years ago it lay partly in Cambridgeshire, for it is built on either side of the Icknield Street, which here formed the county boundary. But the Old Market at Exning was always in Suffolk ”

“ The Jockey Club, which has no palatial London dwelling-place—having, as a matter of fact, only an office there for the transaction of business—possesses a suite of apartments at Newmarket, and holds in its own right, or by lease—chiefly the latter—all the land of the Heath now being used for the various racecourses or public training-grounds, from which it derives a large income, each horse exercised at Newmarket being charged for at the rate of five guineas per annum. ”

“ You bid good-bye to the chalk downs when once Newmarket is gained, and then reach the still wild, but kindlier, country of the sandy heaths.
Cromer was not within the scheme of the London coach-proprietors’ activities in the days of the road. It was scarce more than a fishing village, and the traveller who wished to reach it merely booked to Norwich, and from thence found a local coach to carry him forward. To Norwich by this route it is exactly two miles shorter than by way of Colchester and Ipswich. ”

“ If, on the other hand, you elect to follow the route of the old Thetford and Norwich Mail, which turned off just outside Newmarket from the direct road through Barton Mills, and went instead by Bury St. Edmunds, it is exactly seven miles longer to Thetford and all places beyond.
There are few roads so wild and desolate, and no other main road so lonely, in the southern half of this country. ”

“ There are thirty-one different racecourses at Newmarket, ranging from a little over a furlong, to the Beacon course of four miles, while, during the year, seven meetings take place at which about two hundred and fifty races are decided. Newmarket, as well as being head-quarters of the turf, so far as sport is concerned, is also a resort of many trainers: several stables of importance being located at that place. The Jockey Club being eminently conservative, none beyond the stewards and its principal servants know anything about its financial position; but it is supposed to be growing wealthy. ”

“ It was ascertained that a man, muffled in a cloak, was seen at Newmarket, but not remarkably observed; it was also discovered, that a person so habited had put up a grey horse to bait in one of the inns at Newmarket; but in the throng of strangers, neither the horse nor its owner had drawn down any particular remark. ”

“ One thing that makes Newmarket so enjoyable is that there is no need of dressing to within an inch of your life, as you have to do at Ascot and Goodwood. You see men in comfortable morning and shooting-coats, Norfolk shirts, or any other kind of loose and easy attire; any one almost who appeared in a frock-coat and topper would be looked on with the greatest suspicion. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Many ladies do not appear here—about a dozen or so in the Jockey Club stand, and a very few in carriages, are all who attend ”

“ A part of the town is in Suffolk, and the urban district is in the administrative county of West Suffolk. Newmarket has been celebrated for its horse-races from the time of James I., though at that time there was more of coursing and hawking than horse-racing. Charles I. instituted the first cup-race here. For the use of Charles II., during his visits to the races, a palace, no longer extant, was built on the site of the lodge of James I. There are numerous residences belonging to patrons of the turf, together with stables, and racing and training establishments. ”

“ By the time the Jockey Club and Tattersall’s came into existence, Newmarket had become too 140firmly established as the headquarters of racing for any greater or less measure of Royal favour to affect its fortunes. Wealth, quite irrespective of birth and rank, now counts. It is all one to the town and the trainers who provides the funds, whether it be a millionaire Austrian Jew banker, a German Israelitish financier, a rack-renting peer-landlord, a monarch of the licensed victualling trade, or a wholesale furnisher from Tottenham Court Road ”

“ It is not recommended for night-riding to the solitary rider of impressionable nature, for its general aloofness from the haunts of man, and that concentrated spell of sixteen miles of stark solitudes between Great Chesterford and Newmarket, where you have the bare chalk downs all to yourself, are apt to give all such as he that unpleasant sensation popularly called “the creeps.” ”

“ The string of horses arrived at Newmarket as usual, as above described, shortly before the Craven meeting, and during the last Newmarket race meeting preceding their departure for Epsom, the boy who looked after the horse Munster was told that neither he nor his horse would be wanted to go South, and that he was to get all his things together and be ready to start with his horse by noon on the day after to-morrow; the object in thus delaying for a time the departure of the horse, after giving the lad his order, will be presently seen. ”

“ This figure of a horse occurring so constantly on these coins has sometimes led antiquaries to the ingenious conclusion that the neighbourhood of Newmarket, even thus early, was famous for horses, but that is a long shot, and very much in the dark.
A people of their calibre must have been quite capable of such military works as these dykes. ”

“ It is affirmed that the business of horse-racing is seen at its best at Newmarket; but such a statement may be taken for what it is worth, as the arrangements made at the gate money meetings are remarkably perfect. It is quite on the cards that the racing tracks at Newmarket will speedily be so enclosed that no outsider will be able to witness the sport, various movements in that direction having already taken place. ”

“ But Newmarket does by no means hibernate with the end of October and merely come to life again in the spring. When the flat-racing ends, the hurdle-racing takes up the thread of sport, and allied with these winter activities are the runs of the Drag Hounds.
There are many courses on the Heath: the Old Cambridgeshire, nearest the town, where the historic Red Post, the Duke’s Stand, and some of the old saddling-stables still remain; the long four-miles’ Beacon Course, little used in its entirety, now that a two miles’ contest is thought a good race ”