Beaufort's Dyke

Beaufort's Dyke

Beaufort's Dyke is the sea trench between Northern Ireland and Scotland within the North Channel. The dyke is 50 km long, 3.5 km wide and 200-300 metres deep.

Because of its depth and its proximity to the Cairnryan military port, it became the United Kingdom's largest offshore dump site for conventional and chemical munitions after the Second World War; in July 1945, 14,500 tons of 5-inch artillery rockets filled with phosgene were dumped in Beaufort's Dyke. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020423/text/20423w18.htm]

Munitions have subsequently been washed up on beaches in the area. In particular, in 1995, incendiary devices were discovered on the Scottish and Northern Irish coasts. This coincided with the laying of the Scottish Northern Ireland Pipeline (SNIP), a 24-inch gas interconnector being constructed by British Gas.

Projects for a rail tunnel between Ireland and Scotland have been suggested at various times from the late nineteenth-century onwards. The Dyke has always been an important problem for such proposals, in terms both of practicality and cost.

External links

* [http://www.marlab.ac.uk/FRS.Web/Uploads/Documents/AE08Beauforts.FH10.pdf Fisheries Research Service document]


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