Lambay Island
Encyclopedia
Lambay lies off the coast of Fingal
/ north County Dublin
, Ireland
in the Irish Sea
. It is located north of Ireland's Eye
at and is the easternmost point
of the Republic of Ireland
. The most easterly point on the Island of Ireland is Canon Rock, County Down
.
There are similarly named places, Rathlin off the north-east coast of Ireland, Lamba
in the Faroe Islands
and Lamba
in Shetland.
s, with shale
s and limestone
s.
http://www.portmarnockwaves.com/port1/islands/lambay2.jpg
period in Ireland as a ground stone axe quarrying and production site. Two outcrops of andesite
, or Lambay porphyry
as it is more commonly known, were utilised. The quarry site is unusual in Ireland
for being the only Neolithic stone axe quarry with evidence for all stages of production, from quarrying to final polishing.
The ancient Greek
writers Pliny
and Ptolemy
knew about the island and referred to it as Limnus or Limni. Its Irish
name, Reachra, was eventually joined by a Norse
name based on the root word ey for island. The name Lambey probably originated with the practice of sending over ewes to the island in spring to lamb in a predator-free environment. The belief that the fore part of the name in Norse is from the word lamb makes perfect sense, but may be a later rationalisation for a name based on whatever the name of the island was at the time of Pliny and Ptolemy and the word ey. The Irish name for the nearby coastal area of Portrane
, Port Reachrainn, originated from its position facing the island.
A number of Iron Age
burials were discovered in 1927 on Lambay during works on the island's harbour. The finds included a number of Romano-British items, and the site has been interpreted as evidence for the arrival of a small group of refugees from Brigantia
, fleeing the Romans
from 71 to 74.
St. Colmcille
is said to have established a monastic settlement on Lambay ca. 530 A.D., and Ireland's Viking
period began with a raid on this place in 795. 20th century surveying found remains of an enclosure to the south of the present church, and suggestions of a connected moated site (the present church dates from the early 20th century).
Sitric
, a Danish King of Dublin, granted Lambay to Christ Church Cathedral
, and in 1181 Prince John
granted it to the Archbishops of Dublin. This was reconfirmed by King Edward in 1337 and by King Richard in 1394. A later Archbishop gave the rents of the island to the nuns of Grace Dieu for the upkeep of their monastery and school. He also gave the tithes of the Lambay rabbits to the nuns and at that time the rabbit taxes were worth 100 shillings a year.
In 1467, it was provided by statute that the Earl of Worcester
, then Lord Deputy
, be granted Lambay to build a fortress for England's protection against the Spaniards, French and Scots. Worcester paid the Archbishop of Dublin 40 shillings per annum and though he had a licence to build a castle on Lambay it is not certain that it was actually built.
During the reformation, Archbishop Brown granted the Island to John Challoner for a rent of £6.13.4. The conditions were that Challoner would within 6 years build a village, castle and harbour for the benefit of fishermen and as a protection against smugglers. He was to inhabit Lambay "with a colony of honest men". He was a very active man who worked four mines for silver and copper and bred falcons on the island's many cliffs.
Challoner still owned Lambay in Elizabethan times but in 1611 the island was granted to Sir William Ussher and his heirs. James Ussher
, later the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh
, lived on Lambay in 1626 but by 1650 he was resident in London. He was highly respected by Cromwell and to-day lies buried in Westminster Abbey. The Ussher family held the Island for 200 years.In the 17th C. there was some exploratory lead or copper mining.
During the Williamite war in Ireland
the island was used as an internment camp for Irish soldiers. More than one thousand of them were imprisoned there after the Battle of Aughrim
in 1691 and some died of wounds and starvation.
In 1805, the leasehold of Lambay was inherited by Sir William Wolseley, and in 1814 it was acquired by the Talbot family of Malahide
. In 1860 the existing farmers were removed and replaced with English and Scottish tenants.
Having sold nearby Portrane House, Count James Consedine bought Lambay in 1888, developing the island for hunting. In turn, the Baring family of banking fame bought Lambay Island in 1904 for 9,000 pounds. Cecil Baring hired Sir Edwin Lutyens to work on renovation of the island's main residence and surrounds. Cecil Baring became Lord Revelstoke in 1929 and died in 1934.
The island has claimed a number of shipwrecks, one of the most notable of which was RMS Tayleur. One of the largest merchant ships of her day, she struck the island on 21 January 1854 and sank with the loss of 380 lives.
colonies in Ireland, with over 50,000 Common Guillemot
s, 5,000 Kittiwakes
, 3,500 Razorbill
s, 2,500 pairs of Herring Gulls, as well as smaller numbers of Puffins
, Manx Shearwater
s, Fulmar
s and other species.
Among the mammal
s of the island are Grey Seal
s (Ireland's only east-coast colony) and introduced fallow deer
(a herd of about 200) and wallabies
(whose ancestors were exiled to the island in the 1980s when Dublin Zoo
became overcrowded).
family trust, Lambay is home to an adapted medieval castle and an Edwin Lutyens
-designed estate. The castle is enclosed by a sturdy circular wall which is about 4m high at the lowest point. The estate includes domestic extensions to the old castle, a village of cottages, a communal hall, two family houses, a harbour and boathouse and a distinctive open-air real tennis
court, the only one remaining in Ireland (there was one in the old University College Dublin complex on Earlsfort Terrace). The chapel is located on an isolated promontory. Due to its deep surrounding waters, the island is a particularly popular location for scuba divers. The island is accessible, by prior permission only, from Rogerstown Harbour, 4 km away, 27 km north of Dublin, near Rush
.
Fingal
Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of 239,992 according to the 2006 census...
/ north County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
in the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
. It is located north of Ireland's Eye
Ireland's Eye
Ireland's Eye is a small uninhabited island off the coast of County Dublin, Ireland, situated directly north of Howth Harbour. The island is easily reached by regular tourist boats...
at and is the easternmost point
Extreme points of Ireland
This is a list of the extreme points of Ireland – the points that are farthest north, south, east or west. It includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.Often the term "Malin to Mizen" is used when encompassing the entire island from north to south...
of the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The most easterly point on the Island of Ireland is Canon Rock, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
.
There are similarly named places, Rathlin off the north-east coast of Ireland, Lamba
Lambi
Lambi, locally known as Lamba , is a small village in the bottom of the inlet Lambavík on the East coast of Eysturoy, Faroe Islands.There are similarly named places, Lamba in Shetland and Lambay in Ireland.-Settlement:...
in the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
and Lamba
Lamba (island)
Lamba is an uninhabited island in Yell Sound in the Shetland Islands. It lies north of the entrance to the Sullom Voe inlet. Rising 35 metres above sea level, it has an area of . Its main features are a 27m high light marking the entrance to Sullom Voe, and an adjacent communications mast.There...
in Shetland.
Physical description
Lambay is the largest island off the east coast of Ireland and is about 2.5 square kilometres in size, and rises to 127 metres. There are steep cliffs on the northern, eastern and southern sides of the island, with a more low-lying western shore. The geology is dominated by igneous rockIgneous rock
Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava...
s, with shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
s and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
s.
http://www.portmarnockwaves.com/port1/islands/lambay2.jpg
Prehistory and history
Lambay was important in the NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
period in Ireland as a ground stone axe quarrying and production site. Two outcrops of andesite
Andesite
Andesite is an extrusive igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition, with aphanitic to porphyritic texture. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between basalt and dacite. The mineral assemblage is typically dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene and/or hornblende. Magnetite,...
, or Lambay porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
as it is more commonly known, were utilised. The quarry site is unusual in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
for being the only Neolithic stone axe quarry with evidence for all stages of production, from quarrying to final polishing.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
writers Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
and Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
knew about the island and referred to it as Limnus or Limni. Its Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
name, Reachra, was eventually joined by a Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
name based on the root word ey for island. The name Lambey probably originated with the practice of sending over ewes to the island in spring to lamb in a predator-free environment. The belief that the fore part of the name in Norse is from the word lamb makes perfect sense, but may be a later rationalisation for a name based on whatever the name of the island was at the time of Pliny and Ptolemy and the word ey. The Irish name for the nearby coastal area of Portrane
Portrane
Portrane or Portraine ) is a small seaside town one kilometre from, and merging into the larger town of Donabate in Fingal, north County Dublin, Ireland.- St. Ita's Hospital :...
, Port Reachrainn, originated from its position facing the island.
A number of Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
burials were discovered in 1927 on Lambay during works on the island's harbour. The finds included a number of Romano-British items, and the site has been interpreted as evidence for the arrival of a small group of refugees from Brigantia
Brigantes
The Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England, and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom is sometimes called Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
, fleeing the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
from 71 to 74.
St. Colmcille
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
is said to have established a monastic settlement on Lambay ca. 530 A.D., and Ireland's Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
period began with a raid on this place in 795. 20th century surveying found remains of an enclosure to the south of the present church, and suggestions of a connected moated site (the present church dates from the early 20th century).
Sitric
Sigtrygg Silkbeard
Sigtrygg II Silkbeard Olafsson was a Hiberno-Norse King of Dublin of the Uí Ímair dynasty...
, a Danish King of Dublin, granted Lambay to Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin
Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the Ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the Church of Ireland...
, and in 1181 Prince John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
granted it to the Archbishops of Dublin. This was reconfirmed by King Edward in 1337 and by King Richard in 1394. A later Archbishop gave the rents of the island to the nuns of Grace Dieu for the upkeep of their monastery and school. He also gave the tithes of the Lambay rabbits to the nuns and at that time the rabbit taxes were worth 100 shillings a year.
In 1467, it was provided by statute that the Earl of Worcester
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester
John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester KG , English nobleman and scholar, was the son of John Tiptoft, 1st Baron Tiptoft and Joyce Cherleton, co-heiress of Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton. He was also known as the Butcher of England...
, then Lord Deputy
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and later the Kingdom of Ireland...
, be granted Lambay to build a fortress for England's protection against the Spaniards, French and Scots. Worcester paid the Archbishop of Dublin 40 shillings per annum and though he had a licence to build a castle on Lambay it is not certain that it was actually built.
During the reformation, Archbishop Brown granted the Island to John Challoner for a rent of £6.13.4. The conditions were that Challoner would within 6 years build a village, castle and harbour for the benefit of fishermen and as a protection against smugglers. He was to inhabit Lambay "with a colony of honest men". He was a very active man who worked four mines for silver and copper and bred falcons on the island's many cliffs.
Challoner still owned Lambay in Elizabethan times but in 1611 the island was granted to Sir William Ussher and his heirs. James Ussher
James Ussher
James Ussher was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–56...
, later the Anglican Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)
The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the Province of Armagh and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh....
, lived on Lambay in 1626 but by 1650 he was resident in London. He was highly respected by Cromwell and to-day lies buried in Westminster Abbey. The Ussher family held the Island for 200 years.In the 17th C. there was some exploratory lead or copper mining.
During the Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
the island was used as an internment camp for Irish soldiers. More than one thousand of them were imprisoned there after the Battle of Aughrim
Battle of Aughrim
The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the Jacobites and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691 , near the village of Aughrim in County Galway....
in 1691 and some died of wounds and starvation.
In 1805, the leasehold of Lambay was inherited by Sir William Wolseley, and in 1814 it was acquired by the Talbot family of Malahide
Malahide
Malahide is a coastal suburban town, near Dublin city, located in the administrative county of Fingal, within the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. It has a village-like centre and extensive residential areas to the south, west and northwest.-Name:...
. In 1860 the existing farmers were removed and replaced with English and Scottish tenants.
Having sold nearby Portrane House, Count James Consedine bought Lambay in 1888, developing the island for hunting. In turn, the Baring family of banking fame bought Lambay Island in 1904 for 9,000 pounds. Cecil Baring hired Sir Edwin Lutyens to work on renovation of the island's main residence and surrounds. Cecil Baring became Lord Revelstoke in 1929 and died in 1934.
The island has claimed a number of shipwrecks, one of the most notable of which was RMS Tayleur. One of the largest merchant ships of her day, she struck the island on 21 January 1854 and sank with the loss of 380 lives.
Lambay Castle
A small late 16th century fort with battlemented gables, possibly incorporating a 15th. century blockhouse, on Lambay Island, three miles off the north County Dublin coast; transformed by Sir Edwin Lutyens into a romantic castle for Hon. Cecil Baring, afterwards 3rd. Lord Revelstoke, who bought the island in 1904 as a place to escape to with his beautiful young wife, the daughter of Pierre Lorriard, the first American to win the Derby; the story of their early life here inspired Julian Slade’s musical ‘Free as Air’. Lutyens made the old fort habitable and built a quadrangle of offices and extra bedrooms adjoining it, with roofs of grey pantiles sweeping down almost to the ground. He also built a circular curtain wall or enceinte surrounding the castle and its garden, with an impressive bastioned gateway; this wall serves the practical purpose of a wind break, enabling trees and plants to grow inside it- which would not grow outside. Everything is of a silvery grey stone , bleached pale by sun and storm. The rooms in the castle have vaulted ceilings and stone fireplaces; there is a stone staircase with many attractive curves and an underground gallery in the new quadrangle which might have been conceived by Piranesi. Lutyens also designed the approach from the harbour, with curved step-like terraces reminiscent of the now-vanished Ripetta in Rome; characteristically, having ascended those Baroque steps, one has to cross an open field to come to the curtain wall, the entrance gateway not being at first visible; so there is a wonderful sense of expectancy. Close to the harbour is the White House, a largely single-storey horse-shoe shaped house with high roofs and white harled walls, which Lutyens designed in 1930’s for Lord Revelstoke’s daughter Hon. Mrs. (Arthur) Pollen. On a hill is an old Catholic chapel, with a portico of tapering stone columns and a barrel vaulted ceiling.Wildlife
Lambay supports one of the largest and most important seabirdSeabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
colonies in Ireland, with over 50,000 Common Guillemot
Common Guillemot
The Common Murre or Common Guillemot is a large auk. It is also known as the Thin-billed Murre in North America. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North-Atlantic and North Pacific...
s, 5,000 Kittiwakes
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....
, 3,500 Razorbill
Razorbill
The Razorbill is colonial seabird that will only come to land in order to breed. It is the largest living member of the Auk family. This agile bird will choose only one partner for life and females will lay one egg per year. Razorbills will nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed...
s, 2,500 pairs of Herring Gulls, as well as smaller numbers of Puffins
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...
, Manx Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
The Manx Shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx Shearwaters were called Manks Puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word for the cured carcasses of nestling shearwaters...
s, Fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmars are seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two that are extinct.-Taxonomy:As members of Procellaridae and then the order Procellariiformes, they share certain traits. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called...
s and other species.
Among the mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s of the island are Grey Seal
Grey Seal
The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus...
s (Ireland's only east-coast colony) and introduced fallow deer
Fallow Deer
The Fallow Deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. This common species is native to western Eurasia, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It often includes the rarer Persian Fallow Deer as a subspecies , while others treat it as an entirely different species The Fallow...
(a herd of about 200) and wallabies
Wallaby
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
(whose ancestors were exiled to the island in the 1980s when Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo
Dublin Zoo , in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland is the largest zoo in Ireland and one of Dublin's most popular attractions. Opened in 1831, the zoo describes its role as conservation, study, and education...
became overcrowded).
Current status
Still privately owned by the BaringBaron Revelstoke
Baron Revelstoke, of Membland in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for the businessman Edward Baring, head of the family firm of Barings Bank...
family trust, Lambay is home to an adapted medieval castle and an Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
-designed estate. The castle is enclosed by a sturdy circular wall which is about 4m high at the lowest point. The estate includes domestic extensions to the old castle, a village of cottages, a communal hall, two family houses, a harbour and boathouse and a distinctive open-air real tennis
Real tennis
Real tennis – one of several games sometimes called "the sport of kings" – is the original indoor racquet sport from which the modern game of lawn tennis , is descended...
court, the only one remaining in Ireland (there was one in the old University College Dublin complex on Earlsfort Terrace). The chapel is located on an isolated promontory. Due to its deep surrounding waters, the island is a particularly popular location for scuba divers. The island is accessible, by prior permission only, from Rogerstown Harbour, 4 km away, 27 km north of Dublin, near Rush
Rush, Dublin
Rush is a small seaside town, with a population of 8,280, situated between the communities of Skerries and Lusk in Fingal, Ireland. There has been a large population increase since the previous census in 2002, comprising mostly people from north Dublin....
.
See also
- List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Dublin)