St George's Channel
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St George's Channel (Template:Langx, Template:Langx<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) is a sea channel connecting the Irish Sea to the north and the Celtic Sea to the southwest.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Irish Sea. eds P.Saundry & C.Cleveland. encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC</ref> It separates Wexford on the southeastern corner of Ireland from St Davids in on the southwestern tip of Wales.
Origin of nameEdit
The name "St George's Channel" is recorded in 1578<ref name="Taylor1896">Template:Cite book</ref> in Martin Frobisher's record of his second voyage. It is said to derive from a legend that Saint George had voyaged to Roman Britain from the Byzantine Empire, approaching Britain via the channel that bears his name.<ref name="Room2006">Template:Cite book</ref> The name was popularised by English settlers in Ireland after the Plantations.<ref name="Andrews1997" />
GeographyEdit
Historically, the name "St George's Channel" was used interchangeably with "Irish Sea" or "Irish Channel" to encompass all the waters between Ireland to the west and Wales to the east.<ref name="Andrews1997">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Curtis1839">Template:Cite book</ref> Some geographers restricted it to the portion separating Wales from Leinster,<ref name="Andrews1997" /><ref name="Curtis1839" /> sometimes extending south to the waters between the West Country of England and East Munster;<ref name="Curtis1839" /> the latter have since the 1970s come to be called the Celtic Sea. In Ireland "St George's Channel" is now usually taken to refer only to the narrowest part of the channel, between Carnsore Point in County Wexford and St David's Head in Pembrokeshire. However, it is still possible in Ireland to hear about a "cross-channel trip", or "cross-channel soccer", etc., where "cross-channel" means "to/from Great Britain".<ref name="Heslinga1979">Template:Cite book</ref>
A 2004 letter from the St.George's Channel Shipping Company to Seascapes, an RTÉ Radio programme, said that St George's Channel bordered the Irish coast between Howth Head and Kilmore Quay, and criticised contributors to the programme who had used "Irish Sea" for these waters.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
LimitsEdit
The current (third, 1953) edition of the International Hydrographic Organization's publication Limits of Oceans and Seas defines the southern limit of "Irish Sea and St. George's Channel" as "A line joining St. David's Head (Template:Coord) to Carnsore Point (Template:Coord)"; it does not define the two waterbodies separately.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The 2002 draft fourth edition omits the "and St. George's Channel" part of the label.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</REF>
See alsoEdit
- Nicobar Islands; the channel between Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar is also called St George's Channel
- North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)
- Straits of Moyle