Sheppey Today
The largest town on the island is Sheerness. Other villages include Minster, which has a pebble beach, and Leysdown-on-Sea, which has a coarse sandy one. The whole north coast is dotted with caravan parks and holiday homes; there is also a naturist beach beyond Leysdown, towards Shellness. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds manages a reserve at Elmley Marshes, a small part of the National Nature Reserve managed by Elmley Conservation Trust.
There are three prisons on the island, all located to the south of the village of Eastchurch: HMP Elmley, HMP Standford Hill and HMP Swaleside. The total inmate population is in the region of 2,200.
In the 2001 census, the island had a resident population of 37,852, many of whom commute to the mainland via the Sheerness-Sittingbourne rail link and the new Sheppey Crossing Bridge.
Read more about this topic: Isle Of Sheppey
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“If today there is a proper American “sphere of influence” it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate—a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)