The Newmarket Ridge is a ridge of low chalk hills extending for over 20 miles, from Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, passing through the south-eastern corner of Cambridgeshire. Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite. Bishop's Stortford is a Market town in east Hertfordshire, England, on the County boundary with Essex. Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of Bury St Edmunds is a town in the county of Suffolk, England and formerly the County town of West Suffolk. Suffolk (ˈsʌfək is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. History Cambridgeshire is noted as the site of some of the earliest known Neolithic permanent settlement in the United Kingdom, along with sites at Fengate
The highest point of the Ridge is Great Wood Hill at GR TL786558, the highest point in Suffolk. At 128 m Great Wood Hill is the highest point in the Newmarket Ridge and Suffolk.
There are numerous tops over 100 m, but the hills in this region tend to have quite steep sides but very flat tops, leading to very low topographic prominence. A case in point is Biggin Common, near the village of Castle Camps. Castle Camps is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, near to the borders of Suffolk and Essex and to the town of Haverhill. Despite being a prominent landmark and the highest point for nearly 15 miles in every direction, its prominence is only 20 m to the marginally higher Great Wood Hill, 18 miles away, the hills being connected by a ridge of very little change in height. At 128 m Great Wood Hill is the highest point in the Newmarket Ridge and Suffolk.