Ekwall hardly ever got things wrong, but when he put "Novum Forum 1200 Cur" in DEPN as the earliest reference to Newmarket, he created a huge amount of confusion.   He didn't tell us that his source was the surname of a man Bertinus de Nouo foro in a Yorkshire document (Stenton, Pleas before the king i.304), who had no connection to Newmarket.   In fact, many people called de novo foro occur in the 12th century, and their names may come from France, or be references to local marketplaces.  Wisbech in Cambridgeshire had marketplaces already referred to in the thirteenth century as veteri foro and novo foro (BL Tiberius B ii f242r, not in PN Cambs); these are now Old Market and Market Place, on opposite sides of the river.  So there is local potential for confusion here.

Despite all this, the erroneous "Novum Forum 1200" was copied into Watts, CDEPN and Mills, ODBPN.   Ekwall was even misquoted by Beresford (New towns of the Middle Ages, 490) as if he had referred to Novum Mercatum.   I don't believe Newmarket was ever called forum.   On the meanings of mercatum and forum, essential reading is the article by Paul Cullen in JEPNS 38.   To put the record straight, below are the earliest records concerning Newmarket, in the form in the manuscripts, with the TNA catalogue numbers.   Newmarket has no history before 1218, and the key date is 1223, when a licence for an annual fair was granted.