NEWMARKET 35 



with the Great Eastern Railway as far as Great Chesterford, 

 which is eleven miles south of Cambridge. Between Harlow 

 and Chesterford it passes through Sawbridgeworth, Bishops 

 Stortford, Stanstead, and Newport, and anyone at all versed 

 in turf lore can easily trace the former greatness of this once 

 famous highway all along the route. At Bishops Stortford 

 one or two of the old signboards suggest that the inns were 

 originally established to attract the racing men of the last 

 century, as they travelled to the Turf Metropolis by road. 

 The great inn yards, where a dozen coach-teams and three 

 times the number of post-horses were kept, have mostly 

 disappeared, or shelter oxen and cart-horses instead, but 

 the " half-way house " of King Charles the Second remains, 

 about two miles north of Stanstead, and half a dozen miles 

 further on is the old-fashioned roadside house where, 

 according to local belief, Nell Gwynne put up. This house, 

 which is situated close to the railway at the northern end of 

 Newport, can be seen from the train window, and a sign of 

 its former importance remains in the crown over the front door. 

 The house, like many of the lath-and-plaster erections in this 

 neighbourhood, has gallantly withstood the ravages of time, 

 and as a matter of fact is in very much the same condition 

 it was two hundred years ago. At Great Chesterford the 

 road and the railway part company, the road veering off 

 to the right (or north-east) of the line, and going straight 

 to Newmarket, by way of Bourne Bridge and Six Mile 

 Bottom, while the line goes due north to Cambridge before 

 the turn to the east is made. It thus happens that the 

 railway journey to Newmarket is just over seventy miles, 

 while the road takes one to the Blanton Memorial Clock — 

 at the east end of Newmarket High Street — in ten miles 

 less. From Great Chesterford to Bourne Bridge the route 

 is prettily wooded, but from the last-named place, where 

 there was formerly a large coaching-inn, the country beyond 

 is somewhat bleak until Six Mile Bottom is reached. 



At Six Mile Bottom Newmarket may be said to be begun. 

 Hard by is Hare Park, so long the residence of the late 

 Duke of Hamilton, and at one time I believe the Heath 

 used to reach as far. Whether they ever raced from Six 



