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Newmarket is a market town in the English county of Suffolk, approximately 65 miles (105 kilometres) north of London. It is generally considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred horse racing and a potential World Heritage Site. It is a major local business cluster, with annual investment rivalling that of the Cambridge Science Park, the other major cluster in the region.〔http://www.cambridgesciencepark.co.uk/about/history/〕 It is the largest racehorse training centre in Britain, the largest racehorse breeding centre in the country, home to most major British horseracing institutions, and a key global centre for horse health. Two Classic races, and an additional three British Champions Series races are held at Newmarket every year. The town has been a centre for British royalty since James I, and was also a home to Charles I, Charles II and many, many later monarchs. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth, regularly visits the town to see her horses in training. Newmarket has over fifty horse training stables, two large racetracks, The Rowley Mile and The July Course and one of the most extensive and prestigious horse training grounds in the world.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Newmarket Training Grounds )〕 The town is home to over 3,000 racehorses, and it is estimated that one in every three local jobs is related to horse racing. The town is home to the National Horseracing Museum, the Home of Horseracing project, Tattersalls, the racehorse auctioneers and two of the world's foremost equine hospitals for horse health. The town is surrounded by over sixty horse breeding studs. On account of its leading position in the multibillion-pound horse racing and breeding industry, it is also a major export centre. ==History== Newmarket's fortunes changed radically in February 1605 when James I first visited, describing it as a "poor little village". His construction of the Newmarket Palace between 1606 and 1610, an estate covering an acre of land from the High Street to All Saints’ churchyard, established the town as a royal resort. The confrontation that effectively started the English Civil War took place in Newmarket in 1642 when Charles I met a parliamentary deputation that demanded his surrender of the armed forces. "By God not for an hour", Charles replied, "You have asked such of me that was never asked of a King!" 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.〔Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, A.D. Mills〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Newmarket, Suffolk」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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