Coastline of the United Kingdom Coastline of the United Kingdom The coastline of the United Kingdom is formed by a variety of natural features including islands, bays, headlands and peninsulas. It consists of the coastline of the island of Great Britain and the north-east coast of the island of Ireland, as well as a large number of much smaller islands. Much of the coastline is accessible and quite varied in geography and habitats. Large stretches have been designated areas of natural beauty, notably the Jurassic Coast and various stretches referred to as heritage coast. The mapping authority for the United Kingdom, the Ordnance Survey, records
Coastline of the United Kingdom the coastline of the main island, Great Britain, as 11,072.76 miles rounding to 11,073 miles (17,820 km). The British Cartographic Society points out that "The true answer is: it depends!". 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 7,723 miles, although no details are provided about how this figure was calculated. On the basis of EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive boundaries, the UK coastline can be