History of Newmarket

Newmarket remained Royalist throughout the war, but in June 1647 Charles was captured at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire and brought to Newmarket as a prisoner. He was placed under house arrest in the palace while the whole of Cromwell's New Model Army kept guard over the town. Charles' execution was a hammer blow to the town, and the palace was sold to John Okey who demolished most of the buildings.

However, Newmarket's demise was short-lived as the Restoration of 1660 saw Charles II create even stronger links with the town than his predecessors had, and he was a frequent visitor between 1666 and 1685. In 1668 he commissioned William Samwell to build a new palace on the High Street (on the site of the present United Reformed Church). The palace was largely torn down at the start of the 19th century, but a portion survives and is now named Palace House.

Newmarket's history is complicated by the fact that parts of the area forming the town were in Cambridgeshire, and as the town grew in the 19th century the suburbs of Newmarket south of the high street fell into the parishes of Woodditton and Cheveley in Cambridgeshire. The county border was moved in 1894 to accommodate this and has been further altered since.

The settlement's name was recorded in 1200 as Novum Forum, a Latin phrase meaning "new market", and the English translation was later applied to give the town its present name