Edinburgh Channels

They used to be important for navigation, providing a deep approach to the River Thames from the south-east through the sandbanks of the estuary.

The opening of an alternative channel in 2000 has greatly reduced their use, but having been surveyed and studied extensively over the past two centuries they provide an important example of the processes that shape shallow water landforms.

The Thames Estuary and the adjacent part of the North Sea is an area of shallow water with many sandbanks and channels, and substantial tidal currents, often 2-2.5 knots at springs.

It is the scouring action of this current that determines the main pattern of banks and channels, which run in a SW -NE direction.

[2] In the mid-nineteenth century, most shipping into the Thames from the south-east used the Princes and Alexandra Channels, to the south of Shingles.