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Downham-Market in Norfolk County England History and GeographyDOWNHAM-MARKET, a market town and parish in the hundred of CLACKCLOSE, county of NORFOLK, 42½ miles (W.) from Norwich, and 85 (N. by E.) from London, containing 2044 inhabitants. This place, which, from its situation near a navigable river, is called in ancient records Downham Port, derives its name from the Saxon Dune, a hill, and Ham, a residence. In the reign of Edgar, the town was granted to the abbey of Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, and the abbot, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, obtained for it the grant of a weekly market, and in that of John, the privilege of an annual fair. Near the foot of the bridge was an ancient hermitage, and adjoining the church was anciently a Benedictine priory, a cell to the abbey of Ramsey, to the abbots of which Henry III. granted very extensive privileges, among which was the power to try, condemn, and execute felons at their gallows of Downham. The town is pleasantly situated on the decliv?ty of an eminence, about a mile to the eastward of the river Ouse, commanding an extensive view to the west of the fens, with which it is connected by an ancient wooden bridge. It consists of three streets, well paved by subscription, and is amply supplied with water from springs. Here is an extensive foundry for casting church bells; and within a mile of the town is a considerable manufactory for mustard, and for the preparation of linseed oil, the machinery of which is propelled by steam. Downham has for ages been celebrated for its butter, of. which immense quantities were sent by the navigable river Ouse to Cambridge, and being afterwards forwarded from that town by land carriage to London, it erroneously obtained the name of Cambridge butter. The market, which is amply supplied with wild fowl and fish from the fens, is on Saturday: the fairs are, March 3rd (one of the largest for horses in the kingdom), May 8th for cattle, and November 13th for toys; statute fairs are also held in the week preceding, and in the week following, old Michaelmas-day. The county magistrates hold here a petty session for the division weekly; and a court baron is held quarterly by the lord of the manor. The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry of Norfolk, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the king's books at £6. 13. 4. Miss Franks was patroness in 1811. The church, dedicated to St. Edmund, is a venerable structure in the ancient style of English architecture, with a low square embattled tower, strengthened with buttresses, and surmounted by a small spire: the interior is remarkable for the dissimilarity of the arches which support the roof: the font, which is octagonal, has at each of the angles a shield, on which are sculptured the arms of St. Edmund. The church-yard, occupying the summit of the eminence on which the town is built, is ascended by a flight of steps on the north-west, and is approached from the south by a fine avenue of lime-trees. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Independents. A charity school, in which sixty-five boys are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, on the Lancasterian system was founded in 1808, by the late Mr. Zachary Clarke, and is supported by his widow; and a National school for seventy girls is supported by subscription. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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