ENGLAND. Geographical usage confines to the southern part of the island of Great Britain the name commonly given to the great insular power of western Europe.[1] In this restricted sense the present article deals with England, the predominant partner in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, both as containing the seat of government and in respect of extent, population and wealth.
I. Topography.
England extends from the mouth of the Tweed in 55° 46′ N. to Lizard Point in 49° 57′ 30″ N., in a roughly triangular form. The base of the triangle runs from the South Foreland to Land’s End W. by S., a distance of 316 m. in a straight line, but 545 m. following the larger curves of the coast. The east coast runs N.N.W. from the South Foreland to Berwick, a distance of 348 m., or, following the coast, 640 m. The west coast runs N.N.E. from Land’s End to the head of Solway Firth, a distance of 354 m., or following the much-indented coast, 1225 m. The total length of the coast-line may be put down as 2350 m.,[2] out of which 515 m. belong to the western principality of Wales.[3] The most easterly point is at Lowestoft, 1° 46′ E., the most westerly is Land’s End, in 5° 43′ W. The coasts are nowhere washed directly by the ocean, except in the extreme south-west; the south coast faces the English Channel, which is bounded on the southern side by the coast of France, the two shores converging from 100 m. apart at the Lizard to 21 at Dover. The east coast faces the shallow North Sea, which widens from the point where it joins the Channel to 375 m. off the mouth of the Tweed, the opposite shores being occupied in succession by France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark. The west coast faces the Irish Sea, with a width varying from 45 to 130 m.
| Counties. | Area Statute Acres. |
Population 1901. |
| Bedfordshire | 298,494 | 171,240 |
| Berkshire | 462,208 | 256,509 |
| Buckinghamshire | 475,682 | 195,764 |
| Cambridgeshire | 549,723 | 190,682 |
| Cheshire | 657,783 | 815,099 |
| Cornwall | 868,220 | 322,334 |
| Cumberland | 973,086 | 266,933 |
| Derbyshire | 658,885 | 620,322 |
| Devonshire | 1,667,154 | 661,314 |
| Dorsetshire | 632,270 | 202,936 |
| Durham | 649,352 | 1,187,361 |
| Essex | 986,975 | 1,085,771 |
| Gloucestershire | 795,709 | 634,729 |
| Hampshire | 1,039,031 | 797,634 |
| Herefordshire | 537,363 | 114,380 |
| Hertfordshire | 406,157 | 250,152 |
| Huntingdonshire | 234,218 | 57,771 |
| Kent | 995,014 | 1,348,841 |
| Lancashire | 1,203,365 | 4,406,409 |
| Leicestershire | 527,123 | 434,019 |
| Lincolnshire | 1,693,550 | 498,847 |
| Middlesex | 181,320 | 3,585,323 |
| Monmouthshire | 341,688 | 292,317 |
| Norfolk | 1,308,439 | 460,120 |
| Northamptonshire | 641,992 | 338,088 |
| Northumberland | 1,291,530 | 603,498 |
| Nottinghamshire | 539,756 | 514,578 |
| Oxfordshire | 483,626 | 181,120 |
| Rutland | 97,273 | 19,709 |
| Shropshire | 859,516 | 239,324 |
| Somersetshire | 1,043,409 | 508,256 |
| Staffordshire | 749,602 | 1,234,506 |
| Suffolk | 952,710 | 384,293 |
| Surrey | 485,122 | 2,012,744 |
| Sussex | 933,887 | 605,202 |
| Warwickshire | 577,462 | 897,835 |
| Westmorland | 503,160 | 64,303 |
| Wiltshire | 879,943 | 273,869 |
| Worcestershire | 480,560 | 488,338 |
| Yorkshire | 3,882,328 | 3,584,762 |
| Total | 32,544,685 | 30,807,232 |
The area of England and Wales is 37,327,479 acres or 58,324 sq. m. (England, 50,851 sq. m.), and the population on this area in 1901 was 32,527,843 (England, 30,807,232). The principal territorial divisions of England, as of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, are the counties, of which England comprises 40. Their boundaries are not as a rule determined by the physical features of the land; but localities are habitually defined by the use of their names. A list of the English counties (excluding Wales) is given in the table above.[4]
Hills.—As an introduction to the discussion of the natural regions into which England is divided (Section II.), and for the sake of comparison of altitudes, size of rivers and similar details, the salient geographical features may be briefly summarized. The short land-frontier of England with Scotland (its length is only 100 m.) is in great measure a physical boundary, as considerable lengths of it are formed on the east side by the river Tweed, and on the west by Kershope Burn, Liddel Water, and the river Sark; while for the rest it follows pretty closely the summit of the Cheviot Hills, whose highest point is the Cheviot (2676 ft.). A narrow but well-marked pass or depression, known as the Tyne Gap, is taken to separate the Cheviot system from the Pennine Chain, which is properly to be described as a wide tract of hill-country, extending through two degrees of latitude, on an axis from N. by W. to S. by E. The highest point is Cross Fell (2930 ft.). On the north-west side of the Pennine system, marked off from it by the upper valleys of the rivers Eden and Lune, lies the circular hill-tract whose narrow valleys, radiating from its centre somewhat like wheel-spokes, contain the beautiful lakes which give it the celebrated name of the Lake District. In this tract is found the highest land in England, Scafell Pike reaching 3210 ft. East of the Pennines, isolated on three sides by lowlands and on the fourth side by the North Sea, lie the high moors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, with the Cleveland Hills, and, to the south, the Yorkshire Wolds of the East Riding. Neither of these systems has any great elevation; the moors, towards their north-western edge, reaching an extreme of 1489 ft. in Urra Moor. The tableland called the Peak of Derbyshire, in the south of the Pennine system, is 2088 ft. in extreme height, but south of this system an elevation of 2000 ft. is not found anywhere in England save at a few points on the south Welsh border and in Dartmoor, in the south-west. Wales, on the other hand, projecting into the western sea between Liverpool Bay and the estuary of the Dee on the north, and the Bristol Channel on the south, is practically all mountainous, and has in Snowdon, in the north-west, a higher summit than any in England—3560 ft. But the midlands, the west, and the south of England, in spite of an absence of great elevation, contain no plains of such extent as might make for monotony. The land, generally undulating, is further diversified with hills arranged in groups or ranges, a common characteristic of which is a bold face on the one hand and a long gentle slope, with narrow valleys deeply penetrating, on the other. Southward from the Pennines there may be mentioned, in the midlands, the small elevated tract of Charnwood Forest (Bardon Hill, 912 ft.) in Leicestershire, and Cannock Chase (775 ft.) and the Clent Hills (928 ft.), respectively north and south of the great manufacturing district of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Of the western counties, the southern half of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire are generally hilly. Among the Shropshire Hills may be mentioned the isolated Wrekin (1335 ft.), Long Mynd (1674 ft.) and the Clee Hills (Brown Clee, 1805 ft.). The
- ↑ The general questions capable of a single treatment for England, Scotland and Ireland are considered under United Kingdom.
- ↑ Measurements made on a map on the scale of 1212 m. to 1 in., the coast being assumed to run up estuaries until the breadth became 1 m., and no bays or headlands of less than 1 m. across being reckoned. The coast-line of Anglesea and the Isle of Wight, but of no other islands, is included.
- ↑ A separate topographical notice is given under the heading Wales, but the consideration of certain points affecting Wales as linked with England is essential in this article.
- ↑ The figures given here are for the ancient or geographical counties. Section IX., on Territorial Divisions, indicates the departures from the ancient county boundaries made for certain purposes of administration. Each county is treated in a separate article in the topographical, geological, economical and historical aspects. Further topographical details are given in separate articles on the more important hill-systems, rivers, &c.
