Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for English Channel

English Channel, the narrow sea separating England from France; it extends from Lands End to Strait of Dover, and connects the Atlantic with the North Sea; it is 100 miles wide at entrance (between Lands End and Ushant Isle), reaches a breadth of 140 miles between Portland Bill and St Malo, and narrows at Strait of Dover to 21 miles; its depth varies from 5 to 60 fathoms; a chalk ridge, at a depth of 12 or more fathoms, crosses the Strait of Dover, and through that ridge it has been proposed to carry a submarine tunnel. There are mackerel, pilchard, and oyster fisheries.


(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "the narrow sea separating England from France"   (ADL Feature Type: "channels")
Place: England

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