114. SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NORWICH AND DISTRICT 
the general appearance of the allotments. Recently also they have 
decided to offer prizes for the best kept allotments with the object of 
encouraging good cultivation and general tidiness. 
RIveR TRAFFIC. 
In recent years navigation on the river Yare has developed considerably 
on commercial lines and a new type of seagoing motor vessel has been 
specially designed for carrying cargoes of large bulk on a shallow draught. 
In 1923 the number of trading ships arriving at Norwich was only ror, 
but in 1934 this figure had increased to 628, the cargoes including coal, 
grain, cement, bricks, tiles, timber, granite setts and pig iron. These 
ships come from ports in Great Britain and on the Continent direct to 
Norwich, and the development of this trade presumably arises from the 
fact that the cost of conveyance is considerably lower than by rail. 
The largest type of vessel visiting the port of Norwich is 140 ft. long 
and 24 ft. wide, and there is no doubt that considerable demand exists 
for through shipping facilities to Norwich. 
MUSEUMS. 
The city of Norwich has adopted a progressive policy with regard to 
museums, and at present has four, each with its own definite purpose, 
i.e., the Castle Museum, with collections of art, archeology and natural 
history ; the Strangers’ Hall Folk Museum; the Bridewell Museum of 
local industries, past and present ; and the St. Peter Hungate Church 
Museum of Ecclesiastical Art. ; 
The Castle Museum—The Norwich Museum was founded in 1825 
as a private institution and continued as such until 1893 when the collections 
formed by the Norwich Museum Society were transferred to the Corpora- 
tion. The present Castle Museum was opened by Their Majesties the 
King and Queen (then Duke and Duchess of York) in 1894. The building 
had been purchased by the Corporation and the work of restoring the 
interior of the Keep and converting the adjacent buildings into spacious 
galleries had been carried out at a cost of £26,474. 
The Norman Keep of the Castle gives the Museum one of its largest 
exhibition galleries and the main floor is used to illustrate the story of 
‘Norwich through the Centuries’ by means of period rooms with 
appropriate fittings. ‘The exhibits include collections illustrative of the 
prehistory and archzology of the county of Norfolk, and of Norwich silver 
and Lowestoft porcelain. 
Natural history has for a century past formed an important feature of 
the Norwich Museum. John Henry Gurney, father and son, were very 
closely associated with the ornithological collections. 
The Geological Gallery is rich in remains of elephants and other 
animals from the Norfolk Forest-beds, and the Norwich Crag and Chalk. 
These collections were formed by the Rev. John Gunn, F. W. Harmer 
and other local geologists. 
The Art Galleries contain a collection of pictures representative of the 
Norwich School of Painting, whose founder, John Crome (1768-1821), 
is acclaimed one of the world’s greatest landscape painters. ‘Thanks to 
