The History of Newmarket

JOHNA.SEAVERNS 3 9090 014 539 403 Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University 200 Westboro Road North Grafton. MA 01536 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET, THE ANNALS OF THE TURF. : THE History of Newmarket, AND THE ANNALS OF THE TURF WITH MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE HABITUES OF NEWMARKET, AND THE NOTABLE TURFITES FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. BY J. P. HORE. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. LONDON A. H. BAILY AND CO., 15, NICHOLAS LANE, CANNON STREET, E.C. 1886. \All rights reserved. '\ 1.©.^. D US 'i \ PREFACE. Rich, as many of our counties are, in topographical and historical literature, Cambridgeshire has been so neglected in this respect that she may be termed the Cinderella of the Shires. Need we wonder, then, when this important county—whose metropolis is the seat of one of our most renowned and ancient Univer- sities— has hitherto found no scribe to worthily chronicle her rural records, that an obscure hamlet within her confines should be unnoticed by writers upon ancient topographical subjects ? Nevertheless, this erst obscure hamlet (to use a racing phrase) is, on " book form," four times as wicked as the infamous towns mentioned in Genesis (which were only once destroyed by fire), because after Newmarket became the Metropolis of the Turf, on three several times, it was almost reduced to ashes, and once nearly destroyed by water, by way of a change. Surely a place enjoying such a reputation to start with, does not deserve to languish any longer in obscurity ; and being actuated with a desire to lift the veil which so long hid her blushes, viti PREFACE. mainly accounts for the compilation of these volumes. Whether the subject is worth the pains its production incurred remains to be seen. It is a (very) plain un- varnished tale, told by a sportsman, for sportsmen, who has endeavoured throughout the work to faithfully depict scenes of bygone days in Newmarket by re- producing as closely as possible the characteristics and incidents of those times as they were then portrayed. The same course, but in a more marked degree, has been observed in compiling the Annals of the " Turf " Veracity is their only ornament — to quote " the words of a celebrated writer ; but it is an ornament beyond all others in historical anecdotes." The Annals are often crude, and sometimes may be found unpalatable — replete with bad spelling, shocking grammar, and wretched diction. If we want elegant orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody, and all the flowers of rhetoric, these will be found abounding in the " Histories of the British Turf from the Earliest Times to the Present Day," by James Christie Whyte (2 vols., London, 1840), and by James Rice (2 vols., London, 1879) ; but, unfortunately, the rhetoric seems to have crowded out the historical information given in our Annals from the earliest times to the end of the sixteenth century ; the seventeenth century is but little better off; the eighteenth century is no more than a poor and imperfect of the Racing Calendars summary ; and from the beginning of the nineteenth century to " PREFACE. ix the present day, the works of those brilhant writers abound in " historical " inaccuracies of the most flafrrant description. The memoirs and biographical notices of the habitiu^s of Newmarket, and of the notable Turfites who flourished long long ago, will probably be inte- resting to the sportsman of our own times. " Memoirs " are the materials, and often the touchstone, of history ; —to quote our favourite author again—who very truly adds, " And even where they descend to incidents beneath her notice, they aid the studies of the antiquary and moral philosopher." In conclusion, I must, in gratitude, tender my thanks to the Duke of Beaufort, the Earl of Pembroke, Edmund Tattersall, Esq., and M. Leopold de Roths- child, for contributing the cost of the illustrations. J. P. HORE. Newmarket, May, 1885. CONTENTS. BOOK I. Newmarket and the Turf in the Early and Middle Ages ... ... ... ... ... i BOOK II. From the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Death of Elizabeth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 58 BOOK III. Royal Sojourns at Newmarket. James I. 1605-16 14 ... 129 BOOK IV. Royal Sojourns at Newmarket. James I. 1615-1625 {Continued) ... ... ... ... ... ... 169 BOOK V. Miscellaneous Occurrences at Newmarket. 1609-1625 275 BOOK VI. The Annals of the Turf in the Reign of James I. 1605-1625 ... ... ... ... ... ... 326 — — —— THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET, AND THE ANNALS OF THE TURF. BOOK I. NEWMARKET AND THE TURF IN THE EARLY AND MIDDLE AGES. Ancient British settlements in the vicinity of Newmarket—The TumuH Cinerary and other Celtic remains found therein—The Iceni race —Brief account of them by the Roman historians—Enter into an alliance with the Romans—Revolt under Ostorius—The league between Prasutagus and the Emperor—Tyranny of the Romans Revolt of the Iceni under Queen Boadicea—Obtain a temporary victory—Their subsequent defeat by the Romans—Treatment of the Iceni after the conquest—The Roman-British coins—Those stamped with the figure of a horse— Peculiar to the Iceni race—Probable celebrity of their horses—Taxed by the Romans—Exportation of British horses to Rome—The DeviFs Ditch—Brief survey and description of the structure— Probabilities as to its origin and objects —Newmarket and its vicinity during the Anglo-Saxon era—Royal residents at Exning—The East-Anglican sovereigns Sf. Etheldreda —The origin of horse-racing in England— Introduced by the Romans —The primitive racehorse— Its Eastern descent —The Spanish Legion—Their racehorses —Training difficulties during the Roman occupation of England—How overcome—Dissemination of Eastern blood—Prominent race-meetings in England under the Romans The Turf during the Anglo-Saxon era— Probability of horse-races at Newmarket at this period— Progress of the Turf in England in the reigns of Henry II., Richard I., and John—The thoroughbred horses of the Middle Ages— Importation of Eastern blood—Examples The first authentic description of a horse-race in the Middle Ages —Match between the Prince of Wales (Richard II.) and the Earl of Arundel—Owners up—The Earl's horse wins— Is bought by Richard II. for ^4000 The Earl of Arundel—The Fathers of the VOL. I. B — — — — 2 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book I. Turf in the Dark Ages Richard II. —Superiority of English horses in the Middle Ages—Celebrated in song and elegy—Their fame at home and abroad—English Turfites on the Continent—Racing at Milan, Florence, Pisa—Disastrous effect of the Civil Wars on the Turf in England in the fifteenth century—The sport abandoned Dispersion of racing studs—Foreign buyers — Purchases by the Dukes of Ferrara and Mantua^Presents of English horses to the Duke of Ferrara from the Royal Stud at Eltham—The Middle Park in the Middle Ages—Legislation relating to horse breeding, etc. — New- market in the Middle Ages—Famous for displays of equestrian skill—Examples The Earl of Pembroke— The Earl of Gloucester and Hertford— The Earl of Surrey—Newmarket and the vicinity in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries—The town nearly destroyed by a deluge in 1393 —Royal visit in 1453—Manorial history of New- market—First mention of the town in 1227 —The Plague at Exning — Alleged removal of the market at Exning to Newmarket—Grant of Henry III. to Richard de Argentine to have an annual fair at New- market—The Lords of the Manor—The Argentines—-The Alingtons —The Butlers— Local events Bishop Merkes. Although the earliest mention of Newmarket* in the counties of Cambridge and Suffolk does not occur until the year a.d. 1227, there is evidence that the vicinity of the Town and Heath was inhabited by the ancient Britons in almost pre-historic times. Two British tumuli on the borders of Newmarket Heath were opened in May, 1845, and in the following year an account of the examination of them appeared " in the Archseological Journal" (vol. iii., p. 255), The first one described is in the parish of Bottisham. It is placed on an elevated range of hills, forming an escarp- ment of the chalk, which makes it conspicuous for miles over the flat country around. This position, and the fact that an immense quantity of charcoal was found throughout the composition of this tumulus, * Newmarket in Yorkshire occurs in mediaeval documents, but its precise position is unknown. There is a town of the same name in Flintshire, North Wales ; two in Ireland, in Co. Cork and Co. Clare and another in the United States of America. Book I.] THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 3 which is of large size, measuring about ninety feet in diameter, although the deposit was, in comparison, very trifling, induces the supposition that it had been used as a site for a beacon-fire, to guide the traveller over the wild waste of fen-country which spreads in all directions around, and hence, possibly, the name of the " Beacon course." The excavation of this tumulus in 1845 was made from east to west, commencing from the eastern side, in the direction of its centre, in which, at a depth of about three feet, there was found a cinerary urn in an inverted position, slightly tilted on one side, and surrounded by charcoal and burnt earth. It was filled with charcoal, but contained only one small fragment of bone. This vessel, which was of the simplest manufacture, moulded by the hand, and sun-baked, measured in height five inches, and its diameter at the largest part was five inches and a half.

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