Needham Market

Needham Market
240px Hawks Mill, Needham Market now converted into flats
Needham Market  Needham Market shown within Suffolk
Population	4,574 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	TM090548
District	Mid Suffolk
Shire county	Suffolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	IPSWICH
Postcode district	IP6
Dialling code	01449
Police	Suffolk
Fire	Suffolk
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Bury St Edmunds
List of places UK England Suffolk

Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts was named after Needham Market.

History

It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. To prevent the spread of the disease, the town was chained at either end, which succeeded in its task but at the cost of two-thirds of the populace. The town did not recover for nearly two hundred years, with the canalisation of the River Gipping in the late 18th Century and the introduction of the railway. Modern Needham Market contains two road names that are linked to the plague. Chainhouse Road, named after the chains that ran across the East end of the town. The Causeway, is a modern variation of 'the corpseway' so called because of the route that plague victims were transported out of town, to neighbouring Barking church for interment.

Notable buildings

Notable Buildings in the town include:

• The 15th century parish church, the church of St. John the Baptist, originally a chapel of ease for the parish of Barking (with a unique double-hammerbeam roof). - Which is currently searching for funding for its utterly unique wooden beamed roof.
• The mediaeval Limes Hotel
• The Stuart era school.
• Hawks Mill

Sport and leisure

Needham Market has a Non-League football club Needham Market F.C. who play at Bloomfields, they have been very successful over recent years after reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase.

Needham Lake (a former gravel pit) provides leisure facilities and a wildlife habitat.

Transport

The East Anglia Main Line railway runs through the town, with Needham Market railway station providing trains to Ipswich and Cambridge. The A14 (although then the A45) once ran directly through Needham Market, but a bypass was built in the 1970s. This has left the town with good road links to the surrounding area, but with less traffic than before.

Notable people

Notable people from Needham include:

• Joseph Priestley who discovered oxygen
• June Brown actress from EastEnders
• George Ewart Evans famous author who lived here
• Ros Scott The Liberal Democrat peer, a former district and county councillor for the town, chose it for her title.

External links

• Needham Market Town Council