Needham Market facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Needham Market |
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 Hawks Mill, now converted into flats |
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 Needham Market
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| Population | 4,700 (2021 Census) |
| OS grid reference | TM090548 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| 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 |
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Needham Market is a small town in Suffolk, England. It's located in the beautiful Gipping Valley. Nearby villages include Barking and Darmsden. The town is found just east of the main A14 road. It sits between Ipswich to the south and Stowmarket to the north.
Needham Market is also on the Great Eastern Main Line railway. You can find Needham Lake and the River Gipping just east of the train station. In 2021, about 4,700 people lived in the town. Did you know that the town of Needham, Massachusetts in the USA was named after Needham Market?
Contents
A Look Back: History of Needham Market
Needham Market first grew because of its wool industry. People would prepare wool for making cloth here. However, a terrible sickness called the Bubonic plague hit the town between 1663 and 1665. To stop the disease from spreading, chains were put up at both ends of the town. This helped contain the plague, but sadly, two-thirds of the people in the town died.
It took almost 200 years for the town to fully recover. Things started to get better when the River Gipping was made into a canal in the late 1700s. The arrival of the railway also helped the town grow again.
Today, two road names in Needham Market remind us of the plague. Chainhouse Road is named after the chains that blocked the town. The Causeway is a modern name for what was once called 'the corpseway'. This was the path where plague victims were taken out of town. They were buried at Barking Church nearby.
Near the train station, between the Rampant Horse pub and the river, is a place called the Camping Land. This name comes from an old medieval ball game called Campan or Campball. It was a rough game, a bit like an early version of rugby football.
Cool Buildings to See
Needham Market has some interesting old buildings:
- The Church of St. John the Baptist was built in the 1400s. It has a special double-hammerbeam roof, which is quite rare!
- The Limes Hotel is a very old building from around the year 1500.
- The Old Town Hall was designed by an architect named Frederick Barnes. It was finished in 1866.
What's the Weather Like?
Just like most of the UK, Needham Market has an oceanic climate. This means the weather is generally mild. Both winter and summer temperatures are not too extreme. There isn't a huge difference between the coldest and warmest parts of the year.
| Climate data for Wattisham, elevation 87m, 1971–2000, extremes 1960– | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.1 (57.4) |
17.0 (62.6) |
21.7 (71.1) |
24.1 (75.4) |
27.6 (81.7) |
33.0 (91.4) |
32.1 (89.8) |
35.3 (95.5) |
28.5 (83.3) |
24.7 (76.5) |
17.9 (64.2) |
15.3 (59.5) |
35.3 (95.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.3 (43.3) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.5 (49.1) |
11.9 (53.4) |
15.8 (60.4) |
18.7 (65.7) |
21.4 (70.5) |
21.6 (70.9) |
18.3 (64.9) |
13.9 (57.0) |
9.3 (48.7) |
7.1 (44.8) |
13.4 (56.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.7 (33.3) |
0.7 (33.3) |
2.3 (36.1) |
3.7 (38.7) |
6.8 (44.2) |
9.5 (49.1) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.9 (53.4) |
9.9 (49.8) |
7.2 (45.0) |
3.5 (38.3) |
1.9 (35.4) |
5.8 (42.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −14.6 (5.7) |
−10 (14) |
−8.6 (16.5) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−0.4 (31.3) |
3.8 (38.8) |
3.6 (38.5) |
1.5 (34.7) |
−3.5 (25.7) |
−7 (19) |
−13.2 (8.2) |
−14.6 (5.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 49.5 (1.95) |
35.1 (1.38) |
42.5 (1.67) |
41.2 (1.62) |
43.7 (1.72) |
52.2 (2.06) |
42.4 (1.67) |
47.1 (1.85) |
55.1 (2.17) |
57.2 (2.25) |
55.6 (2.19) |
52.1 (2.05) |
573.8 (22.59) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 57.4 | 75.7 | 111.3 | 159.0 | 213.6 | 208.2 | 212.7 | 205.8 | 148.5 | 117.5 | 73.2 | 52.4 | 1,635.2 |
| Source 1: Met Office | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: KNMI | |||||||||||||
Getting Around Needham Market
The Needham Market railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line. You can't get a direct train to London or Norwich from here. However, there's a train every hour between Ipswich and Cambridge. It's a small station and doesn't have staff. Greater Anglia manages the station and runs the trains.
The main A14 road used to go right through the town. But a bypass was built in the 1970s. This means the town now has good road connections to nearby areas. It also has less traffic than before, which is nice!
For buses, First Eastern Counties runs the 88 route. This bus connects Needham Market with Ipswich and Stowmarket. It runs every 30 minutes on weekdays.
Fun Things to Do
Needham Market has a local non-League football club called Needham Market F.C.. They play at a ground called Bloomfields. The team has done well recently. They even reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase competition in the 2010/2011 season.
The town is also part of the Dunwich Dynamo cycle ride route. This is an annual bike ride that happens overnight. It's usually held on the Saturday night closest to the full moon in July.
Needham Lake offers fun activities and is a home for wildlife. It's located just east of the railway station. The lake is part of a nature reserve, with the River Gipping flowing nearby. It's a popular spot for visitors. The lake used to be a gravel pit before it was turned into the beautiful lake you see today.
Another cool place to visit in town is the Alder Carr Farm. They make and sell delicious ice cream there!
News and Entertainment
For local news and TV shows, people in Needham Market can watch BBC East and ITV Anglia. TV signals come from either the Tacolneston or Sudbury TV towers.
Local radio stations include BBC Radio Suffolk, Heart East, and Nation Radio Suffolk. You can also listen to Greatest Hits Radio Ipswich & Suffolk and Ipswich Community Radio. The last one is a radio station run by the community.
The town is served by local newspapers like the Ipswich Star and the East Anglian Daily Times.
Famous People from Needham Market
Some notable people who have lived in or are connected to Needham Market include:
- Joseph Priestley (1733–1804): He was a chemist and a thinker. He was also the local priest in Needham from 1755 to 1761.
- Dykes Alexander (1763–1849): A Quaker businessman and minister.
- Samuel Herbert Maw (1881-1952): An architect and mapmaker who worked mostly in Canada.
- June Brown (1927–2022): A famous actress who played the character Dot Cotton in the TV show EastEnders.
- Ros Scott (born 1957): A politician from the Liberal Democrat party. She used to be a local councillor for the town and chose Needham Market for her title when she became a Baroness.
See also
In Spanish: Needham Market para niños
