Lambay Island
| Native name: Lambey | |
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 Lambay
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| Geography | |
| Location | Irish Sea |
| Coordinates | 53°29′39″N 5°59′44″W / 53.494147°N 5.995671°WCoordinates: 53°29′39″N 5°59′44″W / 53.494147°N 5.995671°W |
| Area | 2.5 km2 (0.97 sq mi) |
| Length | 2.7 km (1.68 mi) |
| Width | 2.2 km (1.37 mi) |
| Coastline | 10 km (6 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 127 m (417 ft) |
| Highest point | Knockbane |
| Administration | |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | Dublin |
| Electoral division | Donabate |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 6 (2011) |
| Pop. density | 2.4 /km2 (6.2 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Irish |
Lambay, sometimes referred to as Lambay Island (from Old Norse Lambey, meaning 'lamb island'; called in Irish: Reachrainn) lies in the Irish Sea off the coast of north County Dublin in Ireland. It is four kilometres (2 mi) offshore from the headland at Portrane and is the easternmost point of the province of Leinster.
Similarly named places are Lamba in the Faroe Islands and Lamba in Shetland.
Lambay Island is the largest island off the east coast of Ireland and is about 2.5 square kilometres (240 hectares or 593.1 acres) in size. Its highest point rises to 127 metres (416.7 feet). 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 rocks, with shales and limestones. There are a small number of wells and streams.
There is a private harbour on the western shore, and there are a small number of buildings nearby including a bothy, coastguard cottages and a real tennis court.
A small late 16th-century fort with battlemented gables, possibly incorporating a 15th-century blockhouse, on the island was transformed by Sir Edwin Lutyens into a romantic castle for the Hon. Cecil Baring, afterwards 3rd Lord Revelstoke. Baring had been working in the USA when he fell in love with the wife of one of his co-directors. She divorced her husband and married Baring. He bought the island for £5,250 in 1904 as a place to escape to with his beautiful young wife, Maude Louise Lorillard, the daughter of Pierre Lorillard, the first American to win the Epsom Derby. The story of their early life on the island inspired Julian Slade’s musical Free as Air.
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Wikipedia