DOWNHAM-MARKET, a market-town and parish
in the hundred of CLACKCLOSE, county of NORFOLK, 42
miles (W.) from Norwich, and 85 (N. by E.) from London,
containing 2044 inhabitants. This place, which, from
its situation near a navigable river, is called in ancient
records Downham Port, derives its name from the Saxon
Dune, a hill, and Ham, a residence. In the reign of
Edgar, the town was granted to the abbey of Ramsey,
in Huntingdonshire, and the abbot, in the reign of
Edward the Confessor, obtained for it the grant of a
weekly market, and in that of John, the privilege of an
annual fair. Near the foot of the bridge was an ancient
hermitage, and adjoining the church was anciently
a Benedictine priory, a "cell to the abbey of Ramsey,
to the abbots of which Henry III. granted very extensive
privileges, among which was the power to try, condemn,
and execute felons at their gallows of Downham. The
town is pleasantly situated on the declivity of an eminence,
about a mile to the eastward of the river Ouse,
commanding an extensive view to the west of the fens,
with which it is connected by an ancient wooderi
bridge. It consists of three streets, well paved by subscription,
and is amply supplied with water from springs.
Here is an extensive foundry for casting church bells;
and within a mile of the town is a considerable manuj
factory for mustard, and for the preparation of linseed
oil, the machinery of which is propelled by steam. Downham
has for ages been celebrated for its butter, of which
immense quantities were sent by the navigable river Ouse
to Cambridge, and being afterwards forwarded from that
town by land carriage to London, it erroneously obtained
the name of Cambridge butter. The market, which is
amply supplied with wild fowl and fish from the fens, is
on Saturday: the fairs are, March 3rd (one of the largest
for horses in the kingdom), May 8th for cattle, and November
13th for toys; statute fairs are also held in the
week preceding, and in the week following, old Michaelmas-
day. The county magistrates hold here a petty session
for the division weekly; and a court baron is held
quarterly by the lord of the manor.
The living is a discharged rectory, in the archdeaconry
of Norfolk, and diocese of Norwich, rated in the
king's books at £6.13.4. Miss Franks was patroness in
1811. The church, dedicated to St. Edmund, is a venerable
structure in the ancient style of English architecture,
with a low square embattled tower, strengthened with;
buttresses, and surmounted by a small spire: the interior
is remarkable for the dissimilarity of the arches
which support the roof: the font, which is octagonal,
has at each of the angles a shield, on which are sculptured
the arms of St. Edmund. The chnrch-yard, occuv
pying the summit of the eminence on which the town is
built, is ascended by a flight of steps on the north-west,
and is approached from the South by a fine avenue o£
lime-trees. There are places of worship for Particular
Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Independents. A
charity school, in which sixty-five boys are taught reading,
writing, and arithmetic, on the Lancasterian system
was founded in 1808, by the late Mr. Zachary Clarke,
and is supported by his widow; and a National school
for seventy girls is supported by subscription.