St George's Channel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Relief map of the Irish Sea. St George's Channel at the southern opening of the sea.

St George's Channel is a channel connecting the Irish Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Historically, the name encompassed all the waters between Ireland in the west, and Wales and Southwest England in the east; thus the Bristol Channel opened into Saint George's Channel. The name is now usually applied only to the waters near the narrowest part of the channel, between Carnsore Point in Wexford and Saint David's Head in Pembrokeshire. The sea to the north is now simply considered the South Irish Sea; the sea to the south is considered part of the Celtic Sea. However, it remains common in Ireland to talk about a cross-channel trip, cross-channel soccer, etc., where "cross-channel" means "to/from Great Britain".

The name is said to derive from a 14th Century legend that Saint George had voyaged to Roman Britain from the Byzantine Empire. The legend said he approached Britain via the channel that bears his name.

This Welsh location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This Ireland geographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

There is another Saint George's Channel in the Bismarck Archipelago, between New Ireland and New Britain, named by analogy with the European channel.