Editing St George's Channel

{{Short description|Sea channel connecting the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea}}{{other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
[[File:IrishSeaReliefmap.png|thumb|Relief map depicting St George's Channel and the Irish Sea]]
[[File:Solar eclipse 1715May03 Halley map.png|thumb|[[Edmond Halley]]'s [[Solar eclipse of May 3, 1715|solar eclipse]] 1715 map showing ''St. George's Channel'']]
'''St George's Channel''' ({{langx|cy|Sianel San Siôr}}, {{langx|ga|Muir Bhreatan}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.logainm.ie/1166502.aspx|title=Muir Bhreatan|work=[[logainm.ie]]|publisher=Placenames Branch (Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs)|access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref>) is a [[channel (geography)|sea channel]] connecting the [[Irish Sea]] to the north and the [[Celtic Sea]] to the southwest.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2011. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Irish_Sea?topic=49523 ''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 name ==
The name "St George's Channel" is recorded in 1578<ref name="Taylor1896">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Isaac |title=Names and their histories, alphabetically arranged as a handbook of historical geography and topographical nomenclature |publisher=Rivington, Percival |year=1896 |page=243 |chapter=St. George's Channel |isbn=978-0-8274-3009-9 |access-date=18 September 2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cNkNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA243}}</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">{{cite book |last=Room |first=Adrian |title=Placenames of the world: origins and meanings of the names for 6,600 countries, cities, territories, natural features, and historic sites |publisher=McFarland |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7864-2248-7 |page=326 |chapter=St George's Channel |access-date=18 September 2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1JIPAN-eJ4C&pg=PA326}}</ref> The name was popularised by English settlers in Ireland after [[Plantations of Ireland|the Plantations]].<ref name="Andrews1997" />

== Geography ==
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">{{cite book|last=Andrews|first=John Harwood|title=Shapes of Ireland: maps and their makers 1564–1839|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DfcRAQAAIAAJ|access-date=18 September 2010|date=January 1997|publisher=Geography Publications|isbn=978-0-906602-95-9|pages=87–88, 155}}</ref><ref name="Curtis1839">{{cite book|editor=Thomas Curtis |title=The London encyclopaedia|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdLyNZ-OUMwC&pg=PA133|access-date=18 September 2010|volume=10|year=1839|page=133|chapter=George's Channel (St.)}}</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|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">{{cite book|last=Heslinga|first=Marcus Willem|title=The Irish border as a cultural divide: a contribution to the study of regionalism in the British Isles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzygAAAAMAAJ|access-date=18 September 2010|year=1979|publisher=Van Gorcum|isbn=978-90-232-0864-8|page=8}}</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>{{cite web |date=30 September 2004 |title=Seascapes News Summary |url=http://www.rte.ie/radio1/seascapes/1023657.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525171202/http://www.rte.ie/radio1/seascapes/1023657.html |archive-date=25 May 2012 |access-date=18 September 2010 |work=[[RTÉ.ie]]}}</ref>

== Limits ==
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|St. David's Head]] ({{Coord|51|54|N|5|19|W|display=inline}}) to [[Carnsore Point]] ({{Coord|52|10|N|6|22|W|display=inline}})"; it does not define the two waterbodies separately.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf#page=41 |chapter=Corrections to pages 12 and 13 |title=Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition|year=1953|publisher=International Hydrographic Organization|access-date=28 December 2020}}</ref> The 2002 draft fourth edition omits the "and St. George's Channel" part of the label.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Choo|first=Sungjae|year=2007|title=The Cases of International Standardization of Sea Names and Their Implications for Justifying the Name East Sea|journal=Journal of the Korean Geographical Society|volume=42|issue=5|pages=751; Table 3, footnote|url=http://kgeography.or.kr/publishing/journal/42/05/05.PDF#page=7|access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_2002/Draft_2002.htm |website=IHO |title=2002 Draft of Limits of Oceans and Seas |access-date=25 May 2016 }}</REF>

==See also==
* [[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]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Coord|52|5|N|5|45|W|type:waterbody_scale:2500000_region:XA_dim:90km|display=title}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Channel}}
[[Category:Bodies of water of the Irish Sea]]
[[Category:Channels of Wales]]
[[Category:Channels of Ireland]]
[[Category:Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border]]
[[Category:International straits]]
[[Category:Straits of the British Isles]]
[[Category:Bodies of water of the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Channels of Europe]]