Needham Market

"NEEDHAM MARKET, a town, a chapelry, and a sub-district, in Bosmere district, Suffolk. The town stands on the river Gipping, and on the Great Eastern railway, 8¾ miles N N W of Ipswich; was formerly of considerably more importance than now; had a weekly market, from which it took the latter part of its name, and which has been discontinued; is well built, and contains several handsome houses; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and has a head post-office, a railway station with telegraph, a town hall erected in 1866, good inn, Independent and Quaker chapels, a public library and reading-room, an endowed grammar school for 21 pupils connected with the church, a British school opened in Jan. 1867, a national school erected by subscription, alms-houses for 8 persons, and other charities, nearly £60. The church is a fine old large edifice, with a wooden belfry. A fair is held on 28 Oct.; and there is a manufactory of famous crown glue. The town's area comprises nearly 1,000 acres. Real property, £3,666; of which £36 are in gas-works. Pop., 1,377. Houses, 311. The chapelry is conterminate with the town, and is in Barking parish. The manor belongs to the Earl of Ashburnham. The living is a p.curacy in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £91. Patron, the Rector of Barking. - The sub-district contains all Barking parish and eighteen other parishes. Acres, 27,134. Pop., 7,694. Houses, 1,685.

From John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, (1870-72).