h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I can confirm your researcher's suspicion that Pole Hill - in spite of the view from it - is nowhere near the highest point in Essex. In fact, it's not even the highest part of Epping Forest, which frequently rises to well over 300 feet (Pole Hill is just under 300). In North West Essex, where the Chiltern Hills meet the East Anglian Heights, the hills rise to nearly 500 feet, with High Wood generally reckoned the highest point at 480 feet. Nothing, of course, compared with some parts of Britain, but it does go to show that not all of Essex is flat!