Stowmarket
Encyclopedia : S : ST : STO : Stowmarket
- redirect
Stowmarket lies on the River Gipping, which is joined by its tributary, the River Rat, to the South of the town. In the 18th century the Gipping was made navigable between Stowmarket and Ipswich by a series of locks. The newly created canal was known as the Ipswich and Stowmarket Navigation.
The town takes its name from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Stow’ meaning ‘principal place’, and was granted a market charter in 1347 by Edward III. A bi-weekly market is still held there today.
The church of St Peter and St Mary is in the ‘Decorated’ style and dates to the 14th century. The 16th century vicarage has associations with the poet John Milton through his tutor, Dr Thomas Young who became vicar of Stowmarket in 1628. Milton made regular visits to the town, and ‘Milton’s Tree’ in the grounds of a former vicarage is believed to be an offshoot of one of the many trees he planted there.
Other notable residents included political writer William Godwin, who spent time as minister at the Stowmarket Independent Church, and poet George Crabbe, who went to school in the town.
Stowmarket achieved national fame as a result of being frequently mentioned by the broadcaster John Peel who lived nearby until his death in 2004.
Opened in 1967, the Museum of East Anglian Life occupies a 70 acre (283,000 m²) site close to the town centre.
See also
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.