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King'S Lynn And West Norfolk

Stoke Ferry

Downham Market Clock Tower – Downham Market Town Clock loop from Stoke Ferry

King'S Lynn And West Norfolk

Stoke Ferry

Downham Market Clock Tower – Downham Market Town Clock loop from Stoke Ferry

Moderate

riders

Downham Market Clock Tower – Downham Market Town Clock loop from Stoke Ferry

02:07

51.1km

160m

Road cycling

Moderate road ride. Good fitness required. Mostly well-paved surfaces and easy to ride. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: May 16, 2026

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After 12.4 km for 82 m

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12.3 km

Downham Market Clock Tower

Highlight • Historical Site

Downham Market is a picturesque town on the banks of the River Great Ouse. Known as ‘Gingerbread Town’ due to the prevalence of local carrstone, it is one of Norfolk’s oldest market towns. Retaining an intimate feel, the town has many historic buildings, boutiques, antique shops, lots of places to eat and drink and some accommodation. Every Friday and Saturday, there is a bustling market.

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12.3 km

Downham Market Town Clock

Highlight • Historical Site

The Town Clock is a loved landmark at the heart of Downham Market. The cast iron octagonal clock tower, which has four faces and a pyramidal top, was made in 1878. Several plaques on it read 'Presented to the Town by James Scott 1878'. The tower has been restored many times over the years and is now lit with bright colours at night time.

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12.5 km

St Edmund’s Parish Church, Downham Market

Highlight • Religious Site

ownham Market's town centre is on a smaller scale than those of nearby Swaffham, Dereham and Fakenham, and here there is no great church lifting its head above the market place. To find the parish church of this interesting town, you need to head out to the east, where it is hidden from view by trees on top of a rise above the road to Swaffham. Here St Edmund sits, a pretty thing in gingerbread carstone, with an elegant lead-covered spire crowning its squat tower. You can see at first glance that this is by no means a grand, urban church. I was struck by how few gravestones survive in the churchyard. Carstone is notoriously difficult to date, but the low aisles and nave are essentially 15th Century I think, while the chancel is a 19th century rebuild. Set into the stone above the priest door is a crucifixion scene, probably from the top of a former churchyard cross. It all makes for an interesting building quite unlike that of most Norfolk towns.
Although there are exceptions, the parish churches of Norfolk's market towns tend to be High Church in character, even Anglo-catholic, and St Edmund is higher than most. The interior is rather dark thanks to a multiplicity of stained glass, but it was not gloomy, and the smell of incense and the view of the lighter chancel with its big six candlesticks on the altar was evocative and atmospheric. Essentially, this is a late 19th century interior, but there are a couple of important medieval survivals.

The most significant of these is the set of 15th century glass panels set in the west window below the ringing chamber. They include figures from the orders of angels as well as angel musicians, a fragment of figures rising out of the mouth of hell from a Harrowing of Hell image, as well as another fragment of the dead rising from their graves.

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