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Land's End

Map of Land's End and inset of Great Britain
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Map of Land's End and inset of Great Britain
For the clothing retailer, see Lands' End.

Land's End is a headland on the Penwith peninsula, located near Penzance, Cornwall, at the extreme south-western tip of the island of Great Britain. Land's End is the most south western part of Great Britain. 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, lies 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 northerly settlement in mainland Britain). The phrase Land's End to John o' Groats (strangely, very rarely the other way round) is frequently heard both as a literal journey and as a metaphor for great or all-encompassing distance.



07-14-2008 23:18:10
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