Lambay Island

Lambay Iceland (irish Reach Rainn older Reachra ) is an up to 126 m high, is surrounded on three sides by cliffs island. It is the largest island ostirische with 241 acres. It is located north-east of Dublin and six kilometers from the coastal town of Port Coleraine, County Fingal in the Irish Sea. The Irish name Reachra was replaced by the Normans by the Norse Lambay. It means sheep island.

It is possible that the island, which also mentions the Roman Pliny the Elder, is listed on the 150 AD map of the ancient Greek cartographer Ptolemy created, albeit in the wrong place and under the name Limnus or Limni ( the worm ).

Porphyry mining

Lambay Iceland was visited already in the Irish Mesolithic around 7000 BC. The mining and processing of porphyry ( porphyritic andesite ) on Lambay was investigated from 1996 to 2001 by Gabriel Cooney as part of the Irish stone ax projects. The Neolithic mining site " The Eagle 's Nest " delivered, inter alia, numerous production residues, hammer stones, grindstones Axtrohlinge. The hammer stones were made of granite, quartzite and conglomerate, the grinding stones made ​​of sandstone and porphyry. The hatchets were preformed mainly by pecking. The reduction in Eagle 's Nest was 3600-3000 BC instead of Lambay is the only location in the British Isles with receipts for all stages of production to polish the axes. Also from the Bronze and Iron Age remains have been found.

Structures

In the south of the church are the remains of a large enclosure, near the of a moated site, which perhaps dates from the 13th or 14th century. The beach north of the port is eroded, thus were in 1995 and 2002 exposed six or seven skeletons, dating from the late Middle Ages. The present church dates from the early 20th century. It replaces a church that was built in the 1830s. Geophysical studies have shown that outside the church there is a mass grave. It is assumed here that the approximately 362 victims of the shipwreck of the RMS Tayleur were buried in 1854.

In the 16th century Archbishop of Dublin leased the island to a John Challoner, Alderman and Mayor of Dublin. Condition was that this builds within six years, a Castle, a village and a harbor. The Challoners owned Lambay until 1611, the island was for 200 years to William Ussher (who also had Donnybrook Castle ) and his heirs. In the 17th century it lead and copper mining was carried out.

The early 1690s spends Godert de Ginkell ( 1644-1703 - 1st Earl of Athlone ) 780 soldiers and 260 irregulars after Lambay, where they were held captive until the conclusion of the Treaty of Limerick. A number died on the island. In 1860, the Irish farmers were on Lambay replaced by English or Scottish. In 1905 the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens came to Lambay and restored the in the style of a Manor House Lambay Castle. The island is now privately owned and bird sanctuary.