De Excidio Britanniae, Sect. 3; GILRS, Six Old English Chroniclers, p. 299. World History

4.

Account by Gildas, About A.D. 560

The island of Britain, situated on almost the utmost border of the earth, towards the south and west, and poised in the divine balance, so to speak, which supports the whole world, stretches out from the southwest towards the north pole, and is eight hundred miles long and two hundred broad, except where the headlands of sundry promontories stretch farther into the sea. It is surrounded by the ocean, which forms winding bays, and is strongly defended by this ample and, if I may so call it, impassable barrier, save on the south side, where the narrow sea affords a passage to Belgic Gaul.