There has long been debate over the exact location of the

geographical centre In geography, the centroid of the two-dimensional shape of a region of the Earth's surface (projected radially to sea level or onto a geoid surface) is known as its geographic centre or geographical centre or (less commonly) gravitational centre. I ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and its constituent countries, due to the complexity and method of the calculation, such as whether to include offshore islands, and the fact that erosion will cause the position to change over time. There are two main methods of calculating this "centre": either as the

centroid In mathematics and physics, the centroid, also known as geometric center or center of figure, of a plane figure or solid figure is the arithmetic mean position of all the points in the surface of the figure. The same definition extends to any ...

of the two-dimensional shape made by the country (projected to the Airy ellipsoid then flattened using the

Transverse Mercator projection The transverse Mercator map projection (TM, TMP) is an adaptation of the standard Mercator projection. The transverse version is widely used in national and international mapping systems around the world, including the Universal Transverse Mercat ...

), or as the point farthest from the boundary of the country (either the sea, or, in the case of constituent countries, a land border). These two methods give quite different answers.

Traditional locations

The town of

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Brampton. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Stone-built houses are a feature of Haltwhistle. It is one of two settlements in Great Britain which c ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

has banners stating that it is the "Centre of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

". By another calculation the centre can also be said to be

Dunsop Bridge Dunsop Bridge is a village in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, north-west of Clitheroe, south-east of Lancaster and west of Skipton. It is in the civil parish of Bowland Forest High. Historically, the village is part of the ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, 71 miles (114 km) to the south. However, in 2002 the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

conducted studies that pinpointed the respective centres more precisely, and it is their results that are quoted below.

Centroid locations

Put simply, the centroid is the point at which a cardboard cut-out of the area could be perfectly balanced on the tip of a pencil. Islands are assumed fixed to the mainland in their precise position by invisible rigid weightless wires. A mathematical method is used to do the balancing to a much greater accuracy than the practical method could achieve. Unless stated, positions are the

s of the two-dimensional shapes made by the countries. Calculations include offshore islands unless stated.

United Kingdom

* A position "in the middle of

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

", approximately off the coast at Morecambe (#2),

, at Ordnance Survey .

Great Britain

* Whitendale Hanging Stones (#1 on the map), near Brennand Farm, outside

in the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

.(; )

Great Britain (excluding islands other than the island of Great Britain itself)

* A field south of Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (#3), near Whalley,

()

England

Lindley Hall Farm Lindley Hall Farm is a farm in Leicestershire, England, in close proximity to Fenny Drayton and Higham on the Hill. The farm is owned by Stephen Farmer. It has been best known as the geographical centre of England since the Ordnance Survey's in ...

(#4), Leicestershire (near

Fenny Drayton Fenny Drayton (once Drayton-in-the-Clay) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Witherley, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. OS Explorer Map 232: Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000): It lies ne ...

and

Higham on the Hill Higham on the Hill is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The population at the 2011 census was 840. The village's name means 'hom ...

) (; ) A plaque denoting this point, and disputing the "traditional" centre of England as being at Meriden in the West Midlands, was erected by Ordnance Survey on 14 June 2013

Northern Ireland

* Annaghone (#5), near Cookstown,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...

( ) Irish grid ref H 84494 74047.

Scotland

* Between

Blair Atholl Blair Atholl (from the Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Athall'', originally ''Blàr Ath Fhodla'') is a village in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Gr ...

(#6) and

Dalwhinnie Dalwhinnie ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Dail Chuinnidh'' "meeting place") is a small village in the Scottish Highlands. Dalwhinnie is located at the head of Glen Truim and the north-east end of Loch Ericht, on the western edge of the Cairngorms Natio ...

, Perthshire (; )

Wales

* Near

Cwmystwyth Cwmystwyth (also Cwm Ystwyth, ; en, "valley of the River Ystwyth") is a village in Ceredigion, Wales near Devil's Bridge, and Pont-rhyd-y-groes. The Ordnance Survey calculates Cwmystwyth to be the centre point of Wales (; ). History Dis ...

(#7), Devil's Bridge,

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cer ...

(; )

Locations found by other methods

''Point farthest from the sea'' * Church Flatts Farm (#8),

Coton in the Elms Coton in the Elms is a village and parish in the English county of Derbyshire. At from the coast, it is the one of the furthest places in the United Kingdom from coastal waters. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 896. ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

() ''Point farthest from high tide mark (including tidal rivers)'' * Between Hammerwich and Wall, south-west of

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, Staffordshire (;) ''Mid point of the longest north–south axis'' *

, Northumberland. The midpoint of the longest north–south

meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

; also approximately the midpoint of each of the lines through it across Great Britain along the 16 main compass directions. ''Centre of population'' * This calculation depends on the method used (mean, median or geometric median; see

Centre of population In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...

for details). ::A calculation by Danny Dorling using the mean (least squares) method based on local authority district data from the 1990s gave the population centre of Great Britain at

Appleby Parva Appleby Parva, or Little Appleby (Known locally as Over-Town), part of the parish of Appleby Magna in Leicestershire, is a hamlet about south-west of Appleby church. It straddles the A444, south of the crossroads of the highways from Ashby de ...

, Leicestershire, 20 miles south of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

. Since then, the population centre will have moved slightly south and east.> ''Centre of England'' Meriden cross plaque 1951

For centuries the parish of Meriden to the west of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

has claimed to be the geographical centre of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and there has been a stone cross there commemorating the claim for at least 500 years. The justification is that the point farthest from the sea is in the parish. Morton, Derbyshire also claims to be the centre of England as it is not only midway along England's longest north-south axis, but also midway between the east coast and the Welsh border. Claims are also made for a tree, the

Midland Oak The Midland Oak is an oak tree that grows in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The count ...

, in Leamington Spa,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

, although the basis for these claims is not clear.

References

{{Reflist, 32em Geography of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom geography-related lists