CHAPTER VIL 



EAST ANGLIA. 

 (Suffolk and Norfolk.) 



General Features, 



riE two counties of Norfolk and Suffolk form a distinct geograptical 

 region, extending along the sliore of the German Ocean, from the 

 shallow bay known as the Wash as far as the estuary of the 

 Stour. Originally these counties were conquered and settled by 

 the Angles, and, together with Cambridgeshire, they formed the 

 kingdom of East Anglia, which submitted in 823 to the sovereignty of the King 

 cf "Wessex, but was for a considerable time afterwards governed by its own kings 

 or ealdormen. Subsequently many Danes settled in the countr}', which was 

 included in the " Danelagh." 



In East Anglia we meet with no elevations deserving even the name of hills. 

 The bulk of the country is occupied by chalky downs, known as the East Anglian 

 Heights, and forming the north-eastern extremity of the range of chalk which 

 traverses the whole of England from Dorsetshire to the Hunstanton cliffs, on the 

 Wash. Towards the west these heights form an escarpment of some boldness, but 

 in the east they subside gradually, and on approaching the coast sink under 

 tertiary beds of London clay and crag. 



The principal rivers are the Orwell, the Deben, the Aide, the Yare, and the 

 Waveney. The two latter flow into Breydon Water, a shallow lake 4 miles in 

 length, from which the united stream is discharged into the North Sea at Great 

 Yarmouth. Formerly the Waveney had a natural outfall farther south, through 

 Lake Lothing, near Lowestoft ; but a bar of shingle and sand having formed at its 

 mouth, it became necessary to construct a canal in order to afford vessels direct 

 access to the upper part of the river. The western portion of the country is 

 drained by the Ouse and its tributaries. 



In no other part of England do we meet with so many marks of geological 

 agencies as in East Anglia. At one period the Yare and Waveney expanded into 

 a wide arm of the sea, whilst now they traverse broad plains abounding in marshy 



