Stowmarket

Stowmarket, a market-town of Suffolk, on the Gipping, 12 miles NW. of Ipswich. Pop. (1801) 1761; (1891) 5304. Its fine flint-work church (chiefly Decorated) is surmounted by a tower and spire 120 feet high, and the interior contains some interesting monuments, amongst them one to Dr Young—Milton's tutor, and a former vicar. An iron-foundry, chemical and gun-cotton works—the last the scene in August 1871 of a disastrous explosion by which twenty-three persons lost their lives—are in operation, whilst malting and stay-making are also carried on. Burkitt (the commentator) and the poet Crabbe were educated in the town, which, too, was the scene of Godwin's ministry (1778-87). See Hollingsworth, History of Stowmarket (1844).