218 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



and inustartl works. The river below the town has been made navigable for 

 vessels drawing 10 feet of water, but Great Yarmouth is virtually its seaport. 



One of the decayed seats of the linen and woollen industry is Ayhham, 10 

 miles to the north of Norwich, at the head of the navigation of the Bure, a cheerful 

 town in a well- wooded countr_^', known as the " Garden of Norfolk." Near it 

 are the villages of North Wahliam and Worstead, the latter notable as the place 

 where Fleminers first manufactured the fabric known as worsted. IJad Dereham 

 and Wijmo)HUii(m are towns to the west of Norwich, the former a flourish- 

 ing place surrounded by m;irket gardens and orchards, the latter of no note 

 since the dissolution of the Benedictine pi-iory around which it grew up. The 

 poet Cowper lies buried in the fine old parish church of East Dereham. Dm, on 

 the Waveney, is a quaint old market town with a remarkable church. 



"We have stated above that the great rivers of Norfolk converge upon Brey- 

 don Water, and thus Great Yarmouth, which occupies a flat tongue of land at the 

 mouth of the Yare, possesses considerable advantages for carrying on an extensive 

 commerce. The town consists of two portions — the old town, which faces the 

 Yare, and the modern town, opening on the Marine Parade. A quay, planted 

 with lime-trees and lined with curious old houses, extends for nearly a mile along 

 the river, and terminates in the south with the Nelson Column, a Doric pillar 144 

 feet in height, and surmounted by a statue of Britannia. This is the busy part of 

 the town, whilst the Parade, with its two piers, is the chief place of resort for the 

 numerous excursionists who visit the town during the summer months. But it 

 is neither as a watering-place nor as a commercial port that Yarmouth prospers 

 most, for its wealth depends upon its herring and mackerel fisheries, which employ 

 a large part of the population. As early as the thirteenth century, and long before 

 Beukelszoon's alleged invention, the fishermen of Yarmouth knew how to cure the 

 herrings they caught. The inhabitants of the town claim to be descended from a 

 Danish colony which established itself on this coast soon after the Saxon 

 conquest. Many words of Scandinavian origin are preserved in the local dialect. 

 Thus the navigable channels between the banks which skirt the coast are known 

 as " Gats," as on the coast of Denmark. Yarmouth Roads, which are protected by 

 these sand-banks from the fury of the North Sea, present the ovly secure anchorage 

 between the Humber and the Thames, and whole fleets of colliers and coasting 

 vessels may sometimes be seen riding there. 



Cromer is a pretty fishing and watering place on the north coast of Norfolk, 

 which here forms clifis nearly 200 feet in height. Its vicinity furnishes ample 

 proof of the rapidity with which the clifis are being undermined by the sea, for 

 landslips meet the eye in every direction. Cley, or Cleyton-next-the- Sea , to the 

 west of Cromer, is a small seaport in an uninteresting flat country. Wells-next- 

 the-Sea, on a small creek which forms an indiflerent harbour, carries on some 

 trade in corn, coals, timber, and salt. Near it is Holkham Hall, the magnificent 

 seat of the Earl of Leicester. It has a memorial column erected to Mr. Coke, 

 who was deservedly honoured for the agricultural improvements he introduced, 

 and was created Earl of Leicester in 1837. 



