NORWICH IN ITS REGIONAL SETTING 7 
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NORWICH IN ITS REGIONAL SETTING: 
, THE GEOGRAPHY OF NORFOLK! 
BY 
J. E. G. MOSBY, D.S.O., M.A. 
ProFressor Ian C. HANNAH 2 has bestowed upon Norwich the pleasing 
title ‘ The Heart of East Anglia,’ and by so doing has linked together in 
one happy phrase the names of two places whose history and geography 
are almost inseparable. It will be essential, therefore, to consider the 
general boundaries of East Anglia as a background for a more detailed 
analysis of a somewhat smaller region. The limits of East Anglia may 
be taken as roughly coincident with the old kingdom of that name, an 
area which in pre-Norman times was almost completely isolated from the 
rest of Britain by forest and fen ; and the smaller region, which I propose 
to treat as the regional setting of Norwich, may be described as Norfolk 
east of Fenland. 
The border-lands of East Anglia which contributed to its isolation 
were: (1) On the north-west, north and east a long low-lying coast line 
of varying character extending from the south-east corner of the Wash to 
the mouth of the Stour; (2) Impassable fenlands consisting of a maze 
of black meandering streams, swamps, sedge and clumps of willow, alder 
and poplar flanking the west ; (3) To the south thick forests which flourished 
on the outcrop of London Clay. On the landward side a strip of chalk 
country separating the fenland from the forest, and a narrow belt of 
swampland dividing the woodland from the North Sea provided two ways 
of approach into an almost isolated area. 
The approach from the south-west is a tract of open downland varying 
in width from six to ten miles and rising steeply above the level of the 
fens, its chalky soil being unsuitable for the growth of damp oak forest. 
The influence of the downland upon the movements of many has been 
considerable from the earliest times up to the present day, this south- 
western gap being of prime importance as a route into East Anglia in the 
times before the fenland was drained and the forest depleted. A series 
of trackways known as the Icknield Way followed this broad ribbon of 
open downland, and so connected the isolated kingdom of East Anglia 
with the Chilterns and beyond, and served as a means of access for the 
1 The writer desires to acknowledge his thanks to the authors of the works 
referred to in the text ; to Dr. Dudley Stamp, Mr. Rayns, Mr. J. E. Sainty, and 
Mr. W. Stephenson for reading the script and giving valuable suggestions ; and 
to a large number of landowners, farmers and land workers throughout the county 
who have readily given firsthand information about their own locality. 
2 Tan C. Hannah, The Heart of East Anglia (c. 1910). 
