MODERN TOWN. 77 



Sailors' Home, a fine building facing the sea, is the 

 Secretary, who would be glad to acknowledge con- 

 tributions for the relief of foreign as well as home- 

 born shipwrecked sailors. South of the town, upon 

 the Denes, so often covered by the brown swaths of 

 the fishermen's nets, there was built in 1817, in com- 

 memoration of Lord Nelson, a Norfolk man, a 

 lofty fluted Column, springing from a massive square 

 pedestal. The Column is surmounted by a ball rest- 

 ing upon caryatides, and above this is placed a fine 

 figure of Britannia. The Column is 144 feet high, 

 and is ascended by 217 steps. From the top may 

 be seen, in fine weather, Norwich Cathedral, and 

 a magnificent view of the roadstead with its pano- 

 rama of ships and steamers, the distant sea with 

 " ropes of smoke lacing the sky " against the horizon, 

 uncoiled by the far-away steamers hasting on to a 

 foreign port. 



The Fish Wharf, upon which is built a large shed 

 750 feet long and 40 feet wide, was constructed in the 

 year 1869 for the better accommodation of those 

 engaged in the staple industry of the town. It is 

 situate a mile from the Town Hall, lower down the 

 river, just outside the south end of the town. In 

 front of the shed is a landing quay, 40 feet wide, 

 paved with granite cubes ; below this, at a distance 

 of something over 1,500 feet, and nearly opposite the 

 Nelson Monument, is a ferry to the village of 

 Gorlestone. All along this line of riverside during 

 the height of the season, herring boats are moored 

 with their noses to the quay, packed as closely as they 



