THE SUTTON BROAD LABORATORY’. 
731 
xviir. 
THE SUTTON BROAD LABORATORY. 
The Sutton Broad Biological Laboratory was founded for study of 
tlic Biological conditions of the Norfolk Broads and the connecting 
rivers. The house was built in the autumn of 1901, and a little 
preliminary work was accomplished in the summer of 1902; but 
it was not until 1903, when Mr. Balfour Browne took up the 
post of director, that any continuous work was undertaken. The 
Laboratory lias accommodation for four workers at a time, and is 
provided with all necessary glassware and chemicals; and there 
are three bedrooms available for those wishing to make a stay. 
It is situated on the edge of the Broad, on a spit of land running 
out from the uplands into the marshy region, which is known 
on the Ordnance Map as Longmoor Point, and among the local 
inhabitants as Gravel Point. 
Sutton, or Stalham Broad, as it is wrongly named on the 
Ordnance Map, was, in former times, a large area of water (about 
100 acres), but now, in summer time, it is a waste of reeds, reed 
mace, and bulrushes, with a great abundance of white Water Lilies 
and every other kind of water weed; the roots of this vegetation 
form almost a complete stretch of “hover ’’over the Broad, leaving 
only a narrow channel of open water across the length to Sutton 
Staithe, and a second channel to Stalham Staithe. Dykes lead 
from the Broad into Sutton Fen, which is a large area of quaking 
bog and mowing marshes quite unreclaimed, and in winter usually 
under water. Two miles lower down the river Ant is Barton 
Broad, which has quite a different appearance, being surrounded 
on three sides by trees, and having a great deal of open water ; 
from Barton Broad to the junction of the rivers Ant and Bure 
is about six miles, and from this point access may be had to all 
the other waters of the Broads district. 
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