A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
DOVER (Strait of), a strait between England and France; uniting the English channel and the North Sea. It was the Fretum Gallicum of the Romans, and is the Pas de Calais of the French. Its width, from Dover to Cape Grisnez, is 18 miles; from Folkestone cliffs to Cape Grisnez, 20 miles; from the South Foreland light to Calais light, 21 miles; from Dungeness light to Boulogne cliffs, 26 miles; on the average, about 22 miles; and its length is about 15 miles. Chalk cliffs line it on both sides; and are, in some parts, from 300 to 600 feet high on the English side. Its depth, at the Varne and Ridge shoals, is only from 1½ to 4 fathoms; in other parts ranges from 6 to 30 fathoms; and at no part is more than 2 fathoms greater than the depth of the Mississippi at New Orleans. An isthmus seems, beyond question, to have originally occupied its place; and is thought, by good geologists, to have been gradually ruptured and borne away by a strong current from the north.
(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a strait between England and France" (ADL Feature Type: "channels") |
| Administrative units: | Kent AncC |
| Place names: | DOVER | DOVER STRAIT OF | STRAIT OF DOVER |
| Place: | Dover |
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