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NEWMARKETS HISTORY IS ANCIENT. How English Hor-.e Headquarters Grew With the Racing of the Thoroughbred. Augur in the London Sporting Life cannot find that there was ever any Complete stopp.ifrc of ruing in Kiigland fram the arrival of the Raaaaaa until the present time. Oliver Cromwell was a sportsman who probably owned horses, as it is recorded in tin- old "Sporting Magazine" that Mr. Place, the owner of the famous sire The White Tnrk. was master of his stai, Uwacb unfortunately the Civil War, if only partially interfering with sport, destroyed the records of the time. Scarcity of record may also be responsible for the general statoni. nt that III lag Was at its lowest el b in the reign of Queen Llizabeth. though that qaeea was seraetf a great horsewoman, who fre-qaeatly lajayta I ride about Newmarket. Then-is an old ruin in the parish of Moulton, on I hill called Folly Hill, the remains of ■ fine mansion erected for hawking, where her majesty was a freipient visitor, and she :,lso paid fre.pient visits to Kirtliag Towers, where Mary Queen of Scots was once imprisoned. But it is on record that so much had the breeding of half -area* been neglect. .1 thai when Lns.-laiid was threatened by the Soanish Armada only 3.000 horses could be ■Metered for the cavalry throughout the whole kingdom. That is about the ii-arest approach in the history of F.ngland to the present day. but it had the effect of arousing the country to its danger, and in the reign of .lames I. everything possible was .lone to restore the position. Iter or ■aashlp was practised and encouraged by different riding masters distributed throughout the country. Public races were established, and tho hordes which displayed mmtrmr abilities became celebrated. Pedigrees were preserved and recorded with great care, and an g the races established came Newmarket, There Klin; James built the fine racing establishment hiiown as the 1alace. about MMB, and purchased aa Arabian batBC for B2JMM to mate with the Galloway mama cast aa the shores of Scotland by the ih striiction of the Armada. It was recorded that Scotland became so famous for this breed of hormi that tportatloa bad M be forbidden. Newmaiket Town of Great Antiquity. Many have been lei to the lx-lief that Newmarket is of recent erection, as its name implies, whereas it is really a town of great antiquity, for it gave mine to Thomas Be Newmarket. Bishop of Carlisle, in the reign of Deary IV.. who came to his throne in 1377. aad in an old "History of Cambridgeshire" the first mention of the place on record was in 1227. a short time prior to which date a market had be-n established, and from that it took its name. During the Civil War the house built by King James was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt by Charles II.. the Merry Monarch, who was .1 constant visitor la Newmarket, and is said to have been the first monarch who entered and ran horses in his own name. In June. IB 17. Charles I. was brought a prisoner to the palace by the army, whose headquarters were at the adjoining village of Kennett. and confined tiiere for ten days. In conducting him from Chil-derly Gate, known to generations of hunting under-grads us a popular meet. Oliver Cromwell sent him by way of Tiumpington. to avoid the town. | in which the loyal people had made arrangements | to testify their respect, but flowers were strewn for miles along the highway. Thirty-six years later, when Charles II.. with the Qu. en and Duke of York, were staying at the Palace for the races, another tremendous fire broke out which destroyed the royal residence and a great part of the town. Tlii I was attributed by some to accident, by others to the Puritans; but anvwav it came at about the time of the Bye House plot, and undoubtedly saving the kings life through the upsetting Of their plans. A third fire as soon as the destruction was restored finally ended the Palace as the kings residence, and the famous Cockpit and everything adjoining the high-street was destroyed. Th" property passed into the hands of the Duke of Rutland, and all that is left is a red brick building occupied by the Botiischihls, with the training establishment oil the opposite side of tbC Street. For a time the duke used it as a hunting Ih.x for his racehorses, but by some means they passed into the hands of George, IV. and William IV.. for whom William Edwards used to train. To the latter the establishment was left Ear life by their majesties, and hen Edwards resided for a quarter of a centaiy, training for noblemen, among whom was the Karl of Albemarle. In Spite of Trouble Newmarket Grew. In the place of the Palace along the High-street stand a row of shops, including Holdings, and the Puritans got their day when the chapel arose on the site of the old cockpit. History is repeating itself in the attack of the Puritans today, but there are no excesses to justify their attack as in the days of King James or Charles, in the era of the Duchess of Devonshire and Nell Owynne. Iu spite of all its troubles Newmarket grew apace. The amount of assessed property in the Seventeenth century was no more than 5,000, and the population in 1S01 was 1.79U; in MSI it was 2.S4S. and in 1841, ten years later, it had only increased to 2.950. With the accession of King Charles II., breeding and racing flourished greatly and Newmarket was placed 011 such an improved foundation that within I he next century the assessment of property had j risen from fSBiBBB mentioned to about 8888*888 at the close of lsoo and today, with all its war abate ■rata, ranges about $.100,000. Take all other places connected with the thoroughbred and various other horse breeding districts on the same scale and what must be the value of property, as assessed by government representatives, placed in jeopardy by the Puritans acts today. Pacing is no longer simply a part iu the pleasure of the rich; there are no longer the vicious excesses of the early days, wlien kings and dukes, lords and duchesses spent their wet days on the Folly Hill, drawing straws from a stack at a thousand a time, the l.ngest to win; or when the cockpit provided sport for gambling each morning and racing in the afternoon, and King James started the nights revelry at the rooms with a bank of 0,000 011 the table at one time.
