- Needham Market
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Coordinates: 52°09′06″N 1°03′22″E / 52.1518°N 1.0561°E
Needham Market 
Hawks Mill, Needham Market now converted into flats
Needham Market
Needham Market shown within SuffolkPopulation 4,574 (2001 Census) OS grid reference TM090548 District Mid Suffolk Shire county Suffolk Region East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town IPSWICH Postcode district IP6 Dialling code 01449 Police Suffolk Fire Suffolk Ambulance East of England EU Parliament East of England UK Parliament Bury St Edmunds List of places: UK • England • Suffolk Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. To prevent the spread of the disease, the town was chained at either end, which succeeded in its task but at the cost of two-thirds of the populace. The town did not recover for nearly two hundred years, with the canalisation of the River Gipping in the late 18th Century and the introduction of the railway. Modern Needham Market contains two road names that are linked to the plague. Chainhouse Road, named after the chains that ran across the East end of the town. The Causeway, is a modern variation of 'the corpseway' so called because of the route that plague victims were transported out of town, to neighbouring Barking church for interment.
Notable buildings in the town include; the 15th century parish church, originally a chapel of ease for the parish of Barking (with a unique double-hammerbeam roof), the mediaeval Limes Hotel, and the Stuart era school. Needham Lake (a former gravel pit) provides leisure facilities and a wildlife habitat.
The East Anglia Main Line railway runs through the town, with Needham Market railway station providing trains to Ipswich, Cambridge and Peterborough. The A14 (although then the A45) once ran directly through Needham Market, but a bypass was built in the 1970s. This has left the town with good road links to the surrounding area, but with less traffic than before.
Notable people from Needham include Joseph Priestley who discovered oxygen, EastEnders actress June Brown. The author George Ewart Evans lived in Needham Market. The Liberal Democrat peer Ros Scott, a former district and county councillor for the town, chose it for her title.
The town of Needham, Massachusetts was named after Needham Market.
The local football team, Needham Market F.C., has been very successful over recent years after reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase.
Transportation
Buses
See List of bus routes in Stowmarket and Needham Market
External links
Boroughs or districts Major settlements Aldeburgh • Beccles • Brandon • Bungay • Bury St Edmunds • Carlton Colville • Clare • Dunwich • Eye • Felixstowe • Framlingham • Hadleigh • Halesworth • Haverhill • Kesgrave • Leiston • Lowestoft • Mildenhall • Needham Market • Newmarket • Orford • Saxmundham • Southwold • Stowmarket • Sudbury • Woodbridge
See also: List of civil parishes in SuffolkTopics Categories:- Market towns in Suffolk
- Mid Suffolk
- Towns in Suffolk
- Suffolk geography stubs
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