Rough Sands - Definition and Overview

Rough Sands is the name given to a sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles from the coast of Essex, England.

It is known chiefly as the site of Sealand, a micronation that, although unrecognised claims to be an independent sovereign state. Sealand occupies a permanent man-made World War 2 military installation that was constructed in the United Kingdom as a naval vessel and deliberately sunk on Rough Sands.

Ownership of this structure and the seabed at Rough Sands is a matter of dispute between the United Kingdom and Sealand, because although it was not the case when the structure now occupied by Sealand was created, Rough Sands is now part of UK territorial waters, and the sea bed of those waters is part of The Crown Estate, under the management of the Coastal Section of the Marine Estate Department.