Sheppey, ISLE OF

Sheppey, ISLE OF, a portion of the county of Kent, insulated from the mainland by the Swale, an arm of the Medway. It is 9 miles long and 4 broad. Once it was larger; but the sea is eating away the north shore, which is lined by cliffs of London clay 60 to 80 feet high. The church of Minster, formerly in the middle of the island, is now close to the north coast. Almost the whole of the inhabitants are massed in Sheerness (q.v.). In 1732 Hogarth and four others made 'a five days' peregrination' of the island; see their illustrated account (1781, 1782, 1817, &c.).