Downham Market

The town's war memorial stands at the junction of London Road and Church Road. It was dedicated in October 1921 to the dead of World War I. It was paid for by public subscription and built by H. J. Long, a local stonemason. The memorial originally commemorated 73 local servicemen who fell in the First World War with the names of the dead of World War II added later. In 2005, Evelyn Irene Murrell, who died in 1918,[9] a member of the Women’s Royal Air Force, was belatedly added to the list of names. The memorial bears the crown-and-arrows symbol of the town and of the martyred King St Edmund of East Anglia to whom the church is dedicated.

The Town Clock, built by William Cunliffe in 1878, is a Grade II listed structure. Made of cast iron, the clock was originally bronzed and relieved on the prominent parts with gold. Later the clock was painted bottle green, and its current black-and-white finish was applied during the 2004 restoration.[10]

Castle Hotel

Downham Market is known as the 'Gingerbread Town' because of the characteristic local carrstone used for buildings since medieval times.

St Edmund’s Church is a good example of this and is Downham’s only Grade I listed building. It stands in a dominant position overlooking the flat fenlands to the west. The Church like the town was probably an Anglo-Saxon foundation but rebuilt in the 13th century (Early English period) and extensively altered in the 15th and 16th centuries (Perpendicular and Tudor periods). The roof was originally thatched.

Discover Downham Heritage Centre was formerly the old Fire Station and home of the Fire Chief for over seventy years. It was converted from the cottages of Raven’s Row.

The 17th-Century Priory House is one of the oldest houses in the town, although there is no evidence of a priory in Downham.

The Old Court House located on London Road was where the magistrates dispensed justice in the Clackclose Hundred from 1849. Next to the Court House, the short road leads to Court Gardens on the site of the Union Workhouse, built 1837, demolished 1969. This attractive carrstone building was designed by William Donthorne (1799–1859), one of the founders of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). All that remains are the two gatehouses. Adjacent to the gatehouses is the National School, built 1841, and attended by children at the workhouse.

The Castle Hotel is Grade II listed and features a distinctive battlemented parapet. It is a mainly 18th-Century building, but the core is probably earlier.[11] In the past, visitors stayed here for hunting, shooting and fishing in the local area. The hotel had its own transport to and from railway station, and out on shooting parties. The building is still a hotel and restaurant.[12]

The Town Hall, on the opposite side of the old Market Hill, was built by public subscription in 1887/8. Like many of the surrounding buildings it is constructed from locally made white bricks and carrstone. It was formerly the town’s corn exchange, home of the Urban and Rural District Councils and the centre of the town’s social events.

Opposite the Town Hall is the coaching inn, The Crown Hotel. Just inside the arched entrance are steps leading to a mounting block for horsemen. Before the Court House was built, magistrates met here. In May 1816 it was the scene of riots when the magistrates were besieged by angry, starving agricultural labourers demanding a living wage of two shillings a day and the release of poachers. Two of the Downham rioters, Daniel Harwood and Thomas Thody, were hanged on 31 August 1816.[13]

The 18th-century Dial House, located on Station Road, was once a private school for gentlemen in the 1860s.[14] Its name is derived from the sundial painted high on the wall. Today the building is a bed and breakfast.

Downham Market railway station, which serves the town, is on the Fen Line from London to King's Lynn. It opened in 1846. The station has hourly services to London Kings Cross and King's Lynn operated by Great Northern with additional Abellio Greater Anglia services to London Liverpool Street at peak times.

The town signal box is one of five rare examples across the region to have been granted Grade II listed status in 2013. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport listed 26 signal boxes across the country as part of a joint project between Network Rail and English Heritage to secure the nation's railway signalling heritage. Downham's signal box was built in 1881 for the Great Eastern Railway.[15]

The town is served on Mondays - Saturdays by Lynx route 37 to Southery and King's Lynn.[16] and by less regular "Go to town" services 47, 60 and 61 to Fincham, Three Holes, Swaffham and Kings Lynn.[17] There are no buses serving the town on Sundays.

Downham Market is on the north-south A10 road from London to King's Lynn. The east-west A1122 from Outwell to Swaffham runs south of the town.

The River Great Ouse and Great Ouse Relief Channel flows through the Western boundary of the town.

The Great Ouse Relief Channel was made navigable in 2001, when the Environment Agency constructed a lock at Denver to provide access. Moorings are located next to the Station Road bridge.[18] The river is a popular spot for boating and swimming.