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Poole Harbour is a harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the towns of Poole and Wareham on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being the Frome. The harbour has a long history of human settlement stretching to pre-Roman times. The harbour is extremely shallow (average depth: 48cm), with one main dredged channel through the harbour, from the mouth to Holes Bay in Poole. Once a major port, freight transport has declined, but the port still takes regular cross-Channel passenger ferries.