WI Notes
When you visit Newmarket do you do the same as us? We usually park the car,
walk through the Rookery and back along the High Street visiting the necessary
shops, then back to the car park.
Last night, for their April meeting the W. I. had a very different experience. In the car park near All Saints Church we were met by a Guide who began by giving us a potted history of Newmarket. He then took us for a walk through narrow streets and lanes to places the ordinary shopper never sees. We saw the restored Palace House, built originally for Charles II, with its oriel window added by the Rothschild family. Opposite the Palace are the stables, said to be the oldest training establishment in the world. Still in the same road we passed Nell Gwynn's cottage. There are many attractive houses, some Georgian, some little cottages, and still more stables tucked away behind the High Street.
Back in the High Street we were able to stand back and view the buildings above the shops: Jane's that was once the Town Hall and later a cinema, and is reported to have had a cockpit in its basement; an attractive doorway that is the entrance to "Kitchens and Things"; the Rutland Arms which once had an entrance for coaches & horses in the High Street. Opposite was Rutland House, home of the Duke of Rutland, where WoolworthÕs now stands and next to it Primrose House, once home of Lord Roseberry. We looked at the clock tower built to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and which takes 147 (?)turns to wind it (soon I believe to be converted to electricity). Our tour ended at the Jockey Club, originally built as a coffee house for the King and his court. The present Jockey Club was built around the coffee house which still stands in its centre in its entirety.
In the car park once more we thanked our Guide for a most interesting evening. On 17th May we shall be discussing the resolutions being put forward at the W.I. National Assembly in June, and will then be entertained by Hilary Sage and her comic monologues. Do come if youÕd like, you'll be made most welcome. 7.30pm. Village Hall. £2 for visitors.