ABSTRACT
Although the British came to see the Channel as a protective moat against threats from continental Europe, it was always crossable and was often crossed. To sailors who understood the sea it was far less of a barrier than to landsmen. It did, however, become a psychological barrier separating the British or, more specifically, the English from their continental neighbours. This psychological separation, ironically, became far more important in modern times during the heyday of British imperialism and in the post-imperial years when, in real terms, the barrier could be least effective than it was in earlier centuries, for example in medieval times, when the British never for a moment considered that they were not an integral part of Europe.
