Sandra Easom has had a query from Town Councillor Peter Hulbert who is looking for evidence (including personal testimony, that the Wetherby crossing was always a public right of way. I know older Newmarket residents must have memories of using the crossing in their younger days.
Sandra has sent sent him a section of the 1896 OS Map which appears to show a dotted footpath coming from there.
However, extra evidence to back this up would cer tainly help matters. If anyone has anything please send it to me or Peter (in that case please copy Sandra in)

Newmarket’s Medieval Market
By Sandra Easom, MSc

For over 800 years, since 1200 A.D., a general market has served Newmarket and the communities around it. This means that Newmarket’s medieval market is one of the oldest in Suffolk and perhaps, in the entire country.
Newmarket, as a community, was here long before the market gave the town its medieval name. The ancient Icknield Way runs through the town and it also has its own water sources, essential for any ancient habitation. Local archaeology also demonstrates that people have ived around here for millennia. However, after the Norman conquest in 1066, the whole area was divided and became part of Exning manor to one side of the Icknield Way and part of Woodditton manor to the other side.
During the reign of King John (1199 – 1216 A.D.) market trade expanded across the country and it increasingly became formalised under the control of the Crown. A Royal Charter had to be granted for any new market to exist and this also governed the days on which it could legally be held. Traders often travelled on from one market to another, so another consideration was whether other markets were held nearby? A community’s economy had to be protected. Consequently, official markets were only permitted to exist roughly a day’s journey apart from each other (13 – 15 miles).
So, how did Newmarket get such an early market charter? The land passed into the hands of Sir Richard de Argentein, an important and power ful man, around 1200 and it then became a manor in its own right. Apart from being lord of the manor, over time Sir Richard became Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire Essex and Hertfordshire. He also owned another manor at Halesworth in Suffolk. Sir Richard would have easily obtained a market charter from the King Newmarket presented excellent financial opportunities to its lord because of its position on a main highway which combined with pilgrims' and traders' routes. The market, and the accommodation that Newmarket provided for travellers, also contributed to a thriving economy for the town. Of course, Newmarket's residents were also farmers who grew food and brewed ale. They were able to trade these and other commodities because they were freemen and were not tied to the manor as people were in Exning.
By 1472 the market was large enough to be arranged in rows (a design still seen in Norwich market today). The rows then contained different, specialised trades and goods. Official records provide totals of 102½ different shops and stalls. Its importance to the area is shown by the fact that the market had its own court of law, concerned purely with market matters. Shops and stalls were rudimentary structures. Often, the front wooden shutters of a house were let down to form a counter or basic wood and fabric stands were unfolded. However, the placement of the shops and stalls was precise and measured. Two bailiffs supervised the market and fines were issued for any encroachment on unrented land. Of course, the rents and the fines were paid to the lord. Stallholders could hire the same place for years and even passed the right to rent it to their children.
During its long history the market has relocated a number of times. The High Street and The Rookery have been favourite locations. In fact, a market cross once stood in the High Street. Later in Newmarket’s history a corn exchange was added to the market and a cattle market also stood behind The Waggon and Horses pub. Many market animals arrived by train from Victorian times until the early 20th century.
Until 2018 the most recent market relocation, from the High Street to the Market Square, occurred in September 1975, when many changes occurred simultaneously in and around Newmarket. These included the demolition of the old Rookery area and the building of the new shopping centre together with the opening of the new Newmarket bypass.
What of the old, but persistent, myth that Newmarket sprang up after the plague caused the market to relocate from Exning? This was first the theory of a Victorian vicar of Exning, Thomas Dibdin, formed in the absence of any other evidence. His theory was repeated in a number of contemporary directories and so became rooted as “fact”. Following its market charter, Newmarket was granted its first fair charter in 1223. However, as the plague came to Exning in 1227, relocation of some of the population to Newmarket at that time is possible. The lord of the manor of Exning applied for, and was granted, a market charter in 1257. This was probably because he had seen the success of his neighbour’s market. This new charter would not have been needed if an Anglo-Saxon market had already existed. No records appear to support any use of the Exning market charter.