Foulness

Island at the mouth of the River Crouch, in Essex, England, 15 km/9 mi east of Southend-on-Sea, and connected with the mainland by road; population (2001) 212. Foulness has long been used as a firing range by the army.

In the late 1960s, it was proposed that Foulness and the adjacent Maplin Sands should become the site of London's third airport. In 1973, this plan was shelved in favour of Stansted, to the northeast of the capital.