Coastline of the United Kingdom Information & Coastline of the United Kingdom Links at HealthHaven.com

Bedruthan Steps, North Cornwall, A spectacular section of the UK coastline, managed by the National Trust.

The coastline of the United Kingdom is long in comparison to the coastline of similar sized countries;^[1] it accessible and very varied in geography and habitats.

The mapping authority for the United Kingdom, the Ordnance Survey, records the coastline of the main island, Great Britain, as 11,072.76 miles rounding to 11,073 miles (17,820km). If the larger islands are added the coastline, as measured by the standard method at Mean High Water Mark, rises to about 19,491 miles (31,368 km).

According to the CIA Factbook, the length of the UK coastline is around 12,429 km or 7723 miles. For comparison the Factbook also shows the coastline of Italy (7,600km), Spain (4,964km) or France (3,427km). The CIA Factbook figures may be useful comparatively but no detail is provided as to how they were calculated.

Note that the measurement of any coastline is subject to variation depending upon the scale of map used and is an approximation. The smaller the map scale and the smaller the ruler will result in more detail being revealed and thus a greater length. A coastline is also fractal — which roughly means that it is self similar, the same at every scale — the closer the observer looks, the more detail is revealed, leading to a greater overall length.)^{[citation needed]}

Nowhere in the UK is more than 72 miles (116km) from the coast. It is estimated that around 3 million people (out of 60 million) live on the coast of the UK. The place furthest from the coast is reckoned to be Coton in the Elms, near Tamworth, Staffordshire.

The geography of the UK coastline consists of a variety of natural features. These consist of islands, bays, headlands and peninsulas. Of the 1,000+ islands within the UK, only 290 are permanently inhabited. Of the remaining islands, some are used for farming and are occupied occasionally, some are nature reserves with restricted access and some are little more than sea-swept rocks. The main occupied islands and island groups in the UK are as follows.

(Note that the Channel Islands (including Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark) and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK. They are self-governing Crown dependencies. Their coastlines are not coastlines of the United Kingdom.)

Peninsulas around the UK coast include:

Bays, sea lochs, (loughs) and large estuaries include:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Cartopics > How long is the UK coastline?, The British Cartographic Society.

[edit] External links

[0] Cartopics > How long is the UK coastline?, The British Cartographic Society.

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