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Land's End

 
Dictionary: Land's End or Lands End (lăndz' ĕnd') pronunciation

A peninsula of southwest England on the coast of Cornwall. It is the westernmost point of the country.

 

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Westernmost peninsula, Cornwall, England. Its tip is the southwesternmost point of England and lies about 870 mi (1,400 km) from John o' Groats, traditionally considered the northernmost point of Britain. Off its coast lie dangerous reefs, one group of which, a mile from the mainland, is marked by the Longships lighthouse.

For more information on Land's End, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Land's End
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Land's End, promontory, Cornwall, SW England, forming the westernmost extremity of the English mainland. Of wave-carved granite, it has cliffs c.60 ft (20 m) high. Offshore are reefs and rocky islets, on one of which is Longships Lighthouse. Land's End is a major tourist attraction.


Wikipedia: Land's End
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Land's End is located in Cornwall
Land's End shown within Cornwall
Land's End

Land's End (Cornish name: Penn an Wlas) is a headland on the Penwith peninsula, located near Penzance in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly point of the English mainland; the westernmost point of the island of Great Britain as a whole is Corrachadh Mòr, Ardnamurchan, Scotland which is 22 miles (35 km) farther west. The most southerly point of Great Britain is not Land's End but Lizard Point, a few miles to the south-east.

Visible from Land's End is the Longships Lighthouse. The Longships, a few miles out, is a serpentine and quartz island. Offshore, midway between Land's End and the Isles of Scilly, is the supposed location of the mythical lost land of Lyonesse, referred to in Arthurian literature.

The name has a particular resonance because it is so often used in outlining the length of Britain when races, walks and charitable events take place between Land's End and the Scottish village John o' Groats (the most north-easterly settlement in mainland Britain, 838 miles (1,349 km) distant by road). The phrase Land's End to John o' Groats is used both as a literal journey and as a metaphor for great or all-encompassing distance, similar to the American phrase coast to coast.

In 1769 The Antiquarian, William Borlase wrote that:

"Of this time we are to understand what Edward I. says (Sheringham. p. 129.) that Britain, Wales, and Cornwall, were the portion of Belinus, elder son of Dunwallo, and that that part of the Island, afterwards called England, was divided in three shares, viz. Britain, which reached from the Tweed, Westward, as far as the river Ex; Wales inclosed by the rivers Severn, and Dee; and Cornwall from the river Ex to the Land's-End".

In 1987 Peter de Savary purchased Land’s End.[1] He had two new buildings erected and much of the present theme park development was instigated by him. He sold both Land's End and John o' Groats for an undisclosed sum to businessman Graham Ferguson Lacey in 1991.[2]

The current owners purchased Land’s End in 1996 and formed a company named Heritage Attractions Limited.

Contents

Gallery

See also

A map of land's end from 1946

References

External links

Wikisource-logo.svg "Land's End". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

Coordinates: 50°4′7″N 5°42′58″W / 50.06861°N 5.71611°W / 50.06861; -5.71611


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Land's End" Read more