History

Lambay is the largest island off the east coast of Ireland and lies just 12 miles from the centre of Dublin and four miles off the coast.
The remnants of a vast volcano, it emerged after two continents joined to create Ireland 450 million years ago.
Lambay's formed from a beautiful flecked green stone – porphyry – from which our Neolithic ancestors made beautifully crafted stone axes 7,000 years ago. Its early history is obscure but, like many other small islands, it attracted a romantic variety of saints, hermits and pirates.
It's thought to be one of the first places that Viking raiders landed and proofs of its ancient history and early modern settlement were found around the harbour, dating from the 1st century AD.
Wildlife
The island has steep cliffs on its northern, eastern and southern sides with a more low-lying western shore. It is a paradise of fine architecture, birds, flowers, cattle, seals, fallow deer and even a mob of wallabies. A truly unique corner of the earth.
Lambay is internationally important for its variety of seabirds and is also home to the largest breeding colony of Atlantic Grey Seals (the fear) on the east coast of Ireland.
It's a Natura 2000 site designated for its birdlife and seal colonies, as well as holding a remarkable place in European natural history as the site of the pioneering biological investigation undertaken by the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger in 1906, with the assistance of Cecil Baring.
Edwin Lutyens
The owners' grandparents, Cecil and Maude Baring, purchased the island in 1904 and in 1906 they commissioned Edwin Lutyens to modify and design the many buildings on the island.
Examples of his work range from the Coastguard cottages, originally built in 1691, to a large summerhouse finished in 1933.
Together these many buildings form a truly unique landscape which Lutyens overlooked no detail.
The result is a remarkable range of architectural styles that have been seamlessly united by their whitewash treatment and the use of grey-coloured Dutch pantiles.
The additions to the 16th-century Castle are a masterpiece of arts and crafts design and ingenuity.
The gardens, designed with Lutyens’ long time collaborator Gertrude Jekyll, represent a pinnacle of their achievements. Rampart walls, built in 1912, encircle the castle with an island of sheltering woodland – an island within an island.

Island Rules

Some important things to consider.
Please don’t share or forward this site beyond our little group.
When you land, beware of farm livestock (sheep, cattle and deer) and wallabies. When hiking, please leave gates as you find them. But if in doubt, close behind you.
The drains can block, so please only flush loo paper in the loos.
By joining the island, you undertake any and all activities at your own risk.
Social
We're asked not to take interior photos / videos without prior consent.
Posting on social of buildings (inside or outside) is verboten.
No smoking indoors. If outdoors, smoking pots are provided near buildings. Let's ensure no litter is left on the island. Thank you!

William Butler Yeats

Sad face enjoyed a Lambay visit in about 1880 as captured in his seminal autobiography ‘Reveries over Childhood and Youth’.
“One morning I proposed a journey to Lambay Island [from Howth], and was contemptuous because [a London schoolfriend] said we should miss our mid-day meal.
We hoisted a sail on our small boat and ran quickly over the nine miles and saw on the shore a tame sea-gull, while a couple of boys, the sons of a coastguard, ran into the water in their clothes to pull us to land, as we had read of savage people doing.
We spent an hour upon the sunny shore and I said, ‘I would like to live here always, and perhaps some day I will.’ I was always discovering places where I would like to spend my whole life.”

Arriving Howth Harbour on Friday

You'll spot some park and display and also some free street parking in the vicinity of Howth Harbour. More on parking here.
Make sure you arrive at the boat by 13:30 latest on Friday, 30 May.