Newmarket, United Kingdom

Newmarket's royal connection began when James I visited the town in February 1605 and saw the potential of Newmarket Heath for hare coursing and hawking. At first, he leased the Griffin inn; then, in 1608, he bought the property and built Newmarket Palace on the site, which extended from the High Street west of Sun Lane to All Saints Church. The court spent about a month in the spring, and sometimes a month in the autumn, in Newmarket. The first palace building suffered from subsidence and sank on one side when King James was in residence in 1613. Simon Basil, and later, Inigo Jones, were commissioned to build new lodgings for the King and the Prince of Wales. Jones's design for the prince's lodging had three storeys and was Italianate in style.

Although there had been occasional races on Newmarket Heath during the reign of James I, it was his son, Charles I, who established the sport in the town, building a stand on the Heath to watch races. Charles' last visit to Newmarket before the civil war was in 1642. He returned to the town as a prisoner in June 1647, having been captured at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire. He was placed under house arrest for about ten days in the palace, although he was allowed to ride on the heath. In 1650, the palace was sold to a group of seven men, including John Okey, and was demolished.

Following the Restoration, Charles II re-established the royal connection with Newmarket. In 1668, he commissioned William Samwell to build a new palace on the High Street. It was described by John Evelyn as "meane enough, and hardly capable for a hunting house, let alone a royal palace!" Charles II also built a training yard and the town became a centre for racing, with the Spring and Autumn meetings taking place during the king's visits. In 1683, a fire swept through the town on the north side of the High Street, killing three people and destroying houses, shops, barns and stables. The damage was estimated at £20,265 4s 8d. William III and Queen Anne both spent time in Newmarket; Queen Anne founded a boys' school and a girls' school in the town. The first three Hanoverian kings had little interest in racing and did not visit Newmarket. George IV, whilst he was Prince of Wales, owned racehorses and frequented the town until 1791, when a scandal involving his horse Escape and his jockey Samuel Chifney led to a falling out with the Jockey Club, which had established its headquarters in Newmarket in 1752.

The prince never returned to Newmarket, although he continued to keep his horses in training there. The palace was sold in the early 19th century and much of it was demolished. The development of painting on sporting themes in the early eighteenth century was centred on the Newmarket Rracecourse and the three founders of the sporting school, John Wootton, James Seymour and Peter Tillemans, painted many scenes of the racecourse and its environs.

In 1887, a clock tower was erected at the north-east end of the High Street to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

During World War I, tented army camps were set up on the Heath. A memorial, erected on land donated by the Jockey Club, was dedicated in October 2021. In World War II, the Rowley Mile racecourse became an RAF base. Racing continued at a few courses during both world wars; the Derby was run at Newmarket between 1915–18 and 1940–45. On the afternoon of 18 February 1941, ten bombs were dropped on the High Street, killing 27 people.

In the early 1970s, the old Rookery area of narrow streets and small shops and houses to the north of the High Street was demolished to make way for a new market place and shopping centre. The Newmarket bypass was opened in 1975.

The town's first railway was a line built by the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway and opened in 1848, by then renamed the Newmarket Railway. It branched off the West Anglia Main Line at Great Chesterford and ran about 15 miles (24 km) north-eastwards. There was a terminus in Newmarket, with intermediate stations at Bourne Bridge, Balsham Road and Six Mile Bottom.

With the development of other railway lines, the Newmarket terminus was replaced by the present through-station in 1902. The old terminus was used as a goods station until 1967 and demolished in 1980. The 1,100 yards (1,000 m) Warren Hill tunnel was built in 1852–1854 to take the railway under the gallops. Warren Hill station was built north of the tunnel for raceday use. It opened in 1895 and closed in 1945.