BRITISH TURF. 207 



This accident destroyed a great part of the 

 town, and the damage was estimated at £20,000 ; 

 and in the beginning of the last century this town 

 was again visited with a similar disaster. 



At the close of the civil war, on the 9th of June, 

 1647, Charles I. was removed from the house of 

 Lady Cutts, of Childerley, as a prisoner to New- 

 market, where he remained about a fortnight.^ 



The town consists principally of one street, the 

 north side of which is in the county of Suffolk, 

 and the south in that of Cambridge. It is neither 

 lighted nor paved. The houses are modern and 

 well built, and some erected for the occasional resi- 

 dence of visitors are handsome. The town is 

 supplied with water from springs. Coffee-houses, 

 billiard-rooms, libraries, etc., abound, and furnish 

 accommodation and amusement to the numerous 

 visitors at the racing meetings. The race-course 

 and training grounds are the finest in the kingdom. 

 The former is on a grassy heath, near the town, 

 extending in length four miles ; the training ground 

 is more than a mile and a half long, on a very 

 gentle declivity, admirably adapted to keep horses 

 in wind. 



The annual meetings at Newmarket are as fol- 

 lows : — the Craven meeting (a week) begins on 

 Easter Monday. 1st Spring meeting (a week) 

 begins on that day fortnight. 2nd Spring meet- 



* Life of Charles I. p. 986. 



