The Newmarket Ridge is a ridge of low chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....

 hills extending for over 20 miles, from Bishop's Stortford

Bishop's Stortford

Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated just west of the M11 motorway, on the county boundary with Essex and is the closest large town to London Stansted Airport and part of the...

 in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

 to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, passing through the south-eastern corner of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

.

The highest point of the Ridge is Great Wood Hill

Great Wood Hill

At , Great Wood Hill is the highest point in the Newmarket Ridge and in the English county of Suffolk. The top is in the middle of a wood, near the village of Rede.It is the highest point in the wide area east of the River Cam.- Footnotes :...

 at GR TL786558, the highest point in 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

Topographic prominence

In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...

. A case in point is Biggin Common, near the village of Castle Camps

Castle Camps (village)

Castle Camps is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, south-east of Cambridge and 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

Great Wood Hill

At , Great Wood Hill is the highest point in the Newmarket Ridge and in the English county of Suffolk. The top is in the middle of a wood, near the village of Rede.It is the highest point in the wide area east of the River Cam.- Footnotes :...

, 18 miles away, the hills being connected by a ridge of very little change in height.

Towns and villages near the Newmarket Ridge

• Haverhill
  Haverhill, Suffolk
  Haverhill is an industrial market town and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies southeast of Cambridge and north of central London...
  
  
• Bishop's Stortford
  Bishop's Stortford
  Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the district of East Hertfordshire in the county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated just west of the M11 motorway, on the county boundary with Essex and is the closest large town to London Stansted Airport and part of the...