439 
I. 
THE SCENERY OF NORFOLK. 
r>Y Horace ]5. Woodward, F.G.S. 
Read 28th November, 1882. 
Norfolk is not remarkable for its scenery. One may journey by 
rail fiom ihetfonl to Yarmouth, or from Hiss to Cromer, and bo im- 
pressed rather with the monotony of the views tl)an with any very 
striking features. The county has been described as “a plain with 
a spike in tlxo middle,” — not at all a complimentary character to 
give it,— though it is probably true that our grand old cathedral 
rises to a higher elevation than any portion of the soil The 
summit of its spire is said to bo three hundred and fifteen feet 
from the ground, and, therefore, nearly three hundred and forty 
feet above the sea-level ; while the highest land I know in Norfolk 
is that marked two hundred and sixty-seven feet at Little Frans- 
hain by the Ordnance Survey. 
Our county, how'ever, is essentially a plain, through which its 
rivera meander somewhat sluggishly at the bottom of their gently 
sloping valleys. There are exceptions to these gentle features, as 
at Norwich, where, from the high grounds of Mousehold, or eUn 
fiom the Castle Hill, we have a really fine view of a river valley, 
whose bordering hills rise a hundred or a hundred and fifty feet' 
and rather abruptly too. Indeed, at Kett’s Castle w'c have a grand 
panorama ; and Sir Andrew' Ramsay told me it reminded him of 
the view- of Edinburgh from the Calton Hill. 
It the scenery of Norfolk is tame when we compare it with the 
landscapes of the West of England, there are numerous spots 
possessing much beauty, whether among the wooded hills and 
commons near Holt and Cromer, along many country lanes and 
roads, or around the peaceful w'aters of our broads. 
