[.] . 906 [POST OFFICE

S T O'V lVIAR I{ ET. STOWMARKET is a clean and healthy market town and The union of Stow consists of the following parishes:­ railway station, a polling place for the Western division of Badwell Ash, Beyton, Buxhall, Combs, Creeting St. Peter, the county, giving name to a poor-law union and hundred, Drinkstone, Elmswell, l<'elsham, Gedding, Gipping, Great and is also the head of a county court district, in the rural Ashfield, , Harleston, , Hesset, deanery of Stow, archdeaconry of Suffolk, and diocese of Hinderclay, Hunston, Langham, , N orton, Norwich, 80 miles from , 12 from Ipswich, and 14 Old Newton, Onehouse, Rattlesden, Rickinghall Inferior, from Bury St . .Edmund's: it is situated nearly in the centre Shclland, Stowlangtoft. Stowmarket,Stowupland, Thurston, of the county, at the junction of the three rivulets which Tostock, Walsham-le-Willows, Wattisfield, Wetherden, and form the , which was rendered navigable in Woolpit. 1793, and has proved a great source of prosperity to the The Corn Exchange and Assembly Room were built in town. 1836, at a cost of £3,000; the former has been considerably The railway from Ipswich to Norwich and Bury passes improved by the addition of a handsome glass roof. The here, having a station at the bottom of Stowupland-street, corn market, held on Thursday, is well attended by farmers : in the parish of Stowupland, near the Navigation-wharf. on the same day is a market for cattle, sheep, pigs and 'l'hc town is well lighted with gas. horses ; a show of cattle, sheep and pigs is held early in The church of St. Peter and St . .l\Iary is a large cathedral­ September: a horticultural show is also held in July, for like building, in the Decorated anu Early English styles, fruit, flowers and vegetables, nnd prizes are given for the with a spire, tower, nave, aisles, long chancel, and a side six best cultivated cottagers' gardens within 6 miles of the chapel belong·ing to C. Tyrell, Esq., called Gipping Chapel: town. There are two annual fairs-viz., on the lOth July in the church is a monument to Dr. Young, once vicar of and two following days for toys, and pleasure, and one on this parish, and tutor to the immortal .l\Iilton: the church the 12th August, which is a large lamb fair. has undergone a thorough restoration, at a cost of upwards There are two banks in the town; two good hotels, with of £2,000. The living is a vicarage, with that of Stowupland flys from each to meet the trains; also several inns. annexed, yearly value about £360, in the gift of the There is a Literary Institute, with excellent library. representative<> of the late Rev. A. G. ·H. Hollings­ A considerable trade in corn, malt, coal, slate, and timber worth, and held by the Hev. Henry Lewis, M.A.: the is carried on here. Here is the extensive chemical manure vicarage-house is very ancient, and part of it dates before manufactory of l\Tessrs. Prentice (that enterprisin~ firm the reign of Elizabeth : a room in it, where Milton visited is also engaged in the manufacture of gun cotton), and his tutor, is still kept up, and in the grounds a mulberry the agricultural implement manufactory and iron foundry of tree of great size retains the poet's name: the rectorial Messrs. Woods, Cocksedge and Warner, each of which em­ tithes belong to Caleb RBse, :Esq., of Ipswich; they are ploys a considerable number of hands. The i':ltowmarket valued at somewhat over £200 a year. Paper-making Company (limited), have erected buildings A Cemetery has been opened on the south-east side of the facing the Great Eastern Railway : the mill is driven by town: it has two mortuary chapels. steam, and a supply of 450 gallons per minute of fine wat€r A Collegiate school for young gentlemen has recently been is obtained from an artesian well 337 feet deep. There are established, and is well patronised; there are also National several hop gardens in the vicinity, comprising about 150 schools for boys and girls, a handsome Infant school, built acres ; also extensive nurseries. in 1864, and a British school. Thorney Hall, near the station, was from the Norman There arc chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, Acces~>ion to the reign of Henry I. the seat of the King's Primitive Methodists, and Plymouth Brethren. A Congre­ bailiff: the living and town and royalties were then granted gational chapel, in the Decorated English Gothic style, was by the Crown to the Abbey of St. Osythe in Essex, A.D. erected in 1861 : the interior design has the effect of nave, 1348. Edward III. confirmed all former grants of the aisles, and transepts: the accommodation is for about 1,030: market to the Abbey, and renewed the charter for the the edifice is lighted by gas from five pendent chandeliers : market and its rights. Two churches existed in the market the materials are of Kentish rag-stone facings, and Caen at the time of the Conquest. The town was then called stone details, from the designs of F. Barnes, Esq., of Thorney Market as well as Stow; at one time it was a Ipswich. corporate town, and sent a member to Parliament. Petty sessions are held every alternate Monday at the Abbot's Hall, the seat of \Villiam Prentice, Esq., stands Court House, a handsome building in Tavern-street, where on the place where formerly stood the Grange of the Abbot county courts are also held monthly; the district comprises of St. Osythe. the parishes of Bacton, Badley, Barking, Battisford, Bret­ In the vicinity of Stowmarket are many handsome resi­ tenham, Bricett Magna, Ruxhall, Combs, Cotton, Creeting dences of the gentry and merchants of the town; at the east All Saints, Creeting St. 1\lary, Crceting St. Olave, Crceting end, and contiguous to the several works already described, St. Peter, Darmsrlen, Drinkstone, Elmswell, :Felsham, Fin­ are streets, suitable for respectable artizans and mechanics. borough Magna, Finborough Parva, Finningham, Gedding, A court baron is held annually. J. I<'. Robinson, Esq., of Gipping, Harlestone, Haughley, Memllesham, Mickfield, Hadleigh, is lord of the manor. N eedham Market, Old .K ewton, Onehouse, Rattlesden, 'l'he population in l8Gl was 3,G39, and the area is 2,177 Ringshall, Shelland, Stonham Aspal, Stonham Earl, Ston­ acres. ham Little, Stowmarket, Stowupland, 'l'ostock, Westhorpe, Parish Clerk, Edgar Barnard. Wetherden, Woolpit, and Wyverstone.

Official Establishments, Local Institutions, &c. POST AND MONEY ORDER OFFICE, INSURANCE AGENTS, Post Office Savings :Hank & Government Annuity & Accidental Insurance Go. II. Payne, Tavern street Insurance Office, Ipswich street. A lbert Life, J. & George Gudgeon, Bury street Atlas, J. D. Ransom, Bury street Miss Eliza Woolby, Postmistress. British Empire Life, T. & J. Raffe, StowHpland street London, Ipswich & mails. Letters deli­ Commercial Union Fire&' Life, J. F. Wiseman; Samuel vered at 7 a.m. & 12.40 p.m. & box closel'! at 12.15 noon H. Wright, Ipswich street & 10 p.m Crown Life, William G. Ranson, Violet hill Bury&' Cambridge ..Mails-Letters delivered at 7 a.m. & Eagle, Edmund F. 'Voods 1.5 p.m. Box closes at 11.50 a.m. & 10 p.m General Fire~· Life, James Diaper, Tavern street Hailstorm, Philip Turner, Ipswich street MAGISTRATES. Hand-in-Eiand, Francis R. Betts, Bury street Imperial Fire, William G. Ranson; Rev. John Thorn1ey Rev. Copinger Hill, lluxhall Life AMociation of Scotland, Isaac A. Rust, Butter market John Garnham, esq. :Huxhall vale Liverpool~ London~ Globe, John Colson, Ipswich street C. \V. Heigllam, csq. \Vetherden London Assurance, .Frederic Chas. Long, Bury street Charles 'l'yrell, esq. Plashwood Haughley London Union, Isaac A. Rust, Butter market Charles Tyrell, jun. esq. Plashwood Haughley 1l-Iidland Counties, John Ford, Cotton mills Artlmr C. Pretyman, esq. Haughley park Norwich Equitable Fire & Life, James & George Gudgeon, Rohert J. Pcttiward, esq. Finborough hall Bury street; H. Payne, 'l'a•·crn street Ilervey A. Oakes, esq. Hill house, Stowmarkct Norwich Un'ion, Philip Turner, Ipswich street Clerlls to the Justices in Petty Session.Y, Jolm l\'Iarriott Phamix Fire, Pl1ilip 'l'urncr, Ipswich street & Frederick B. l't1 arriott Plate Glas$ Company, John P. Pearson, Ipswich street