o'shea, tom -- lambay island

Lambay IslandNorth County Dublin

Tom O’Shea

Malahide News, 1989

Islands have a mystique of their own, and Lam-bay is no exception, as a trip around its ruggedcoast will prove.

The small permanent island community andthose who visit (strictly by invitation) are servedby a motor vessel called Shamrock which plies be-tween Rogerstown pier and Lambay harbour sev-eral times a week. The boat used by the Talbotsin the 19th century was similarly named and theBarings had a Shamrock in 1905 and so a long tra-dition is continued to this day.

The island is privately owned and landing is notpermitted without the permission of the owners.However, it is a very popular destination for an-glers and for sailors who like to anchor in one ofthe many sheltered bays or observe the wildlife.The island is host to a very large and internation-ally important breeding population of seabirdsand seals.

A sailing circumnavigation invariably offers awide variety of wind, wave and tidal conditions.

Sea anglers find good fishing around the rocky

shores and the various wrecks in the vicinity.

A Circumnavigation

We start at Tayleur Bay, just south west of TheNose on the east side and so called after thewreck of the John Tayleur. In the 1850’s gold wasdiscovered in Australia and on the 19th January1854, the largest sailing merchantman ever builtin England left the Mersey on her maiden voy-age from Liverpool to Melbourne. An iron vessel,with 4000 tons of cargo, and John Tayleur ran intostorm and fog and struck Lambay on Saturday,21st January. Of the 579 emigrants aboard, 80% ofwhom were Irish, only 250 women and children,only 3 survived. When the ship struck, the firstman to jump ashore was the ships cook, a blackman. He received little help from the islanders,who, never having seen a black man before, re-fused to open their cabin doors to him. However,Lord Talbot’s steward did provide straw, oatmealand potatoes for the survivors. The three mainreasons for the Tayleur tragedy were the malfunc-

Figure 1 : Lambay Island. In this view, looking east from Malahide, the harbour with white buildings is in front of thetrees to the right of the large green pasture area. The castle is hidden from view among the trees.

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Tom O’Shea – LAMBAY ISLAND Malahide News, 1989

Figure 2 : Lambay Island Chart

tioning of the ship’s compass which had not beenasked to react to iron before, the unskilled crew,mostly Chinese, who didn’t understand the Cap-tain’s orders and thirdly, the ship had not beenturned, cargo laden, before it left the Mersey.

The captain, Captain Noble, was exonerated andhis certificate renewed. The three day inquest onthe tragedy was held in the newly opened GrandHotel in Malahide and two bodies brought to theinquest lie buried today under the arc way of St.Andrews Church. Full burial rights were refusedby both religions because of the lack of religiousidentification of both victims. A child survivorwho stayed alive in the water, tied to a plank for24 hours, became known as the Ocean Wonder. Itwas eventually adopted by a woman who had losther whole family in Tayleur Bay.

The ship was rediscovered in 1959 by sub-aquadivers, who salvaged huge quantities of chinavessels of willow pattern design as well as brasscollars, shoes, bottles of wine, counterfeit money,fool’s gold and uninscribed headstones. Obvi-ously some of the emigrants were carrying their“trades” with them to Australia. Tayleur’s binna-cle and bell are to be seen to-day in the Civic Mu-seum and Maritime Museum, Dun Laoghaire.

Today, other than the salvaged material, there is

no memorial, no monument, and no reminder ofwhat was one of the greatest sea-tragedies of itsday.

Circa 1919 a second shipwreck occurred aroundhere. The Shamrock, a Dublin-Glasgow passen-ger steamer cattle boat returning from a horseshow in Glasgow ran aground. The horses es-caped onto the island but when the tide went outthe Shamrock slipped underwater. Thankfully,there were no casualties.

Moving around the island, past the Lord of Karry,we reach Seal Hole. Lambay has the largestconcentration of grey seals on the East coast ofIreland and there are several caves in the cliffsmuch frequented for giving birth to their pups..When the Malahide Talbots owned Lambay theydeveloped it’s hunting potential and seal shoot-ing became a popular recreation there. There isa tradition on Lambay that if a boat could fol-low the seals, one could sail the under the is-land. Through the years smugglers certainly ben-efited by following the seals to find the best un-derground caves. Some years ago, Lord Rev-elstoke received an offer for seal meat from aJapanese importer, who intended making aphro-disiacs from the meat. The offer was turneddown.

LATEX ed by Derek O’Connor, July 2006 2


Moving on to Kiln Point, one can sit under-neath a huge rock, sheltered from wind and rain.Here was where the wreckers plied their trade inolden times. Men walked the rocks with bob-bing lanterns to lure unsuspecting ships onto therocks. In bad weather the moving lantern resem-bled the moving lights on the masts of anothership. Once on the rocks, the wreckers went intoaction and slaughtered all hands on board to ob-tain their plunder.

Passing Sunk Island, which was once adjoinedto Lambay and has some stone walls on top, wereach Bishops Bay. This is one of the better swim-ming areas in Lambay. Approx 100 years ago abody washed up here had in its possession a cru-cifix and other articles, which indicated that itwas a bishop. Since then it is known as BishopsBay or Dead Man’s Bay.

Beyond this we pass Black Point. Next comeCarnoon Bay and Talbot’s Bay, both favoured an-choring spots for visiting yachts. Beyond Talbot’sBay the dangerous Burren Rocks jut out a consid-erable distance to the southwest with the extrem-ity marked by a steel perch to warn sailors of thehidden danger lying just below the surface.

Soon we reach Lambay Pier, construction ofwhich started in 1822. In 1927 when improve-ments were being made to the harbour, a buriedgraveyard was discovered. Though the graveswere found in dirty shore sand, each individ-ual hollow was filled with clear silver sand. Allthe bodies were in a crouched position. Un-fortunately, before a full archaeological dig tookplace, the harbour builders removed the bod-ies, so the plan of the cemetery was lost. Overforty objects were found, indicating that Lam-bay had witnessed a very early settlement pe-riod and later, an internment period. Archaeol-ogist, R. A. McAllister discovered artefacts datingback to the La Tene Period circa 500 B.C. Theseornaments contained swirling patterns, curvesand spirals, which at times turned into faces.This dreamlike art form, where nothing is as itseems originated in Lake Neufchatel, Switzer-land. The finds strongly suggest trading with Ro-man Britain. Some articles found were copies oforiginals and one such Roman brooch was a per-fect image of the genuine article except for thefact that the local who made it did not understandhow the clasp worked. So the brooch was not ca-

pable of being worn, thus losing its main func-tion. Other artefacts found in the 1927 dig includestone hatchet heads, lance heads, rims of cook-ing pots, ornamented ware, iron swords, shields,fragments of leather, grain-grinding docks, mor-tars and pestles and a ring still on a bone of thefirst joint of the middle finger.

An exceptionally rare Opah or King Fish wastaken off this western shore in June1906. It wasof bright red colour, 3 feet 7 inches in length and2 feet in height. It is preserved in the NaturalHistory Museum in Dublin. There was only oneother Opah taken from the Atlantic and that wasin 1851.

Moving on from the harbour we now reachScotch Point with Tailors Rock lying some dis-tance off. Here, a lighted buoy is maintained byIrish Lights to warn that the rocks are covered athigh tide. It replaces a tripod perch which col-lapsed during Hurricane Charlie .

Broad Bay is where old red sandstone was quar-ried in times past This stone was used in the con-struction of the Lantern in Lambay Castle.

Moving around the top of Lambay, Gouge Point,a sheer precipice of rock, overlooks very deep wa-ter. Here is to be seen the remains of a very largepromontory fort or garden fort dating back to theBronze or Neolithic ages. The mounds and thevalleys of this double ditch fort are still in a goodstate of preservation and command a spectacularview of the surrounding sea.

We now move in to the extensive Saltpan Bay withits high sheer cliffs which are home to thousandsof nesting birds in season. One can anchor rightup against the cliff face in deep water and lis-ten to the raucous calls of the seabirds and ob-serve them at close quarters both on the cliffsand on the surrounding water. Passing Harp Earand Kelly’s Rock, Freshwater Bay comes into view.This latter bay may have got it’s name from theavailability of fresh water from the stream thatflows down here, one of the very few streams onthe island. The bay is a noted fishing area andalso a great place to observe seals hauled out onthe rocks, particularly Carrickdorrish. Crabs andLobsters are set here and care is required to avoidfouling the floats marking the fishermen’s pots.

Rounding the Nose with its invariably turbulentsea conditions we have completed our circum-



navigation

History of the Island

Now lets turn our attention to those people whooccupied Lambay from perhaps as early 7,000B.C.) to the present day, as well as the bird andanimal life there.

The Island may have been known to the ancientGreek cartographer Ptolemy as it is arguable thatLambay is the island on his map of circa 150 A.D.,though located south of Howth. Pliny, the Ro-man, also mentions it. The name given Lambayby the ancients was Limnus or Limni, meaningthe snail, a name easily understood when oneconsiders its shape. Its early Irish name, Reachra,was eventually replaced by the Danish Lambay,meaning Lamb Island. This name probably orig-inated with the practice sending over ewes tothe island in spring and allowing them to remainthere until the Autumn.

Professor Gabriel Cooney of the School of Archae-ology at UCD and his team have been survey-ing and excavating on the island for quite a fewyears and employing the most modern technol-ogy in magnetometer and geophysics. They havealso had some luck in artefacts being exposed onbeaches suffering erosion in the vicinity of theharbour and among material pushed to the sur-face by burrowing rabbits. Lambay is proving tobe an even more fascinating site than first en-visaged when modern archaeological explorationcommenced in the early 1990’s.

The eroding beach to the south of the har-bour has revealed a selection of flakes, flintsand flint cores that appear to date from theearly Mesolithic period, perhaps as far back asB.C. 7,000 . On the high part of the island inthe area known as the Eagle’s Nest excavationshave yielded quantities of worked porphyry axes,blades, scrapers, etc. and evidence that a factory’for fashioning these implements existed here inNeolithic times. Indeed it is the only Neolithicstone axe quarry in the British Isles with evidencefor all stages production, from quarrying to finalpolishing. When the harbour was being improvedin the 1920’s some remains were discovered sur-rounded by silver sand and which were thoughtto date to the 1st century A.D.. The nature of arte-facts found here also suggested Romano British

trading. The raised beach to the north of the har-bour has been suffering from erosion in recenttimes and in 1995 six male burials were revealedfollowed by a further seven skeletons in 2002. Allare thought to date from around 1500 A.D. Thereis clear surface evidence of a substantial promon-tory or garden fort on Scotch Point and anothernearby with a barrow cemetery outside. Sunk Is-land, which is pretty well inaccessible nowadays,appears to have walls on top on two sides andon The Nose there is evidence also of an ancientwalled enclosure.

St. Colmcille is reputed to have established asettlement in 530 A.D. and when he went onhis travels he left Colman as deacon in chargeof the monastery. Ireland’s viking age beganwith a raid on this monastery in A.D. 795. Re-cent geophysical surveying points to remains ofan large enclosure to the south of the presentchurch. Nearby are remains of a moated site, per-haps from the 13th or 14th centuries and intrigu-ingly evidence of a gravel track way running be-tween. The present church dates from Lutyenstime when it replaced an earlier structure datingfrom the 1830’s. The geophysical survey work hasrevealed what is thought to be a mass grave infront of the church and one can surmise that thisis where many of the victims of the Tayleur ship-wreck were buried. Sitric Danish King of Dublingranted Lambay to Christ Church, their cathe-dral and it stayed in church hands down to recenttimes, despite the varied owners and proprietorslisted who were renting from the Archbishop. Theonly link between the island and Christ Churchsurviving is a well named after the Blessed Trin-ity. There was a tradition of patterns being heldat the well on Trinity Sunday. Another name forChrist Church was the Church of the Holy Trinity.In 1181 Prince John granted Lambay to the Arch-bishops of Dublin This was reconfirmed by KingEdward in 1337 and by King Richard in 1394. Alater Archbishop gave the rents of the island tothe nuns of Grace Dieu for the upkeep of theirmonastery and school. He also gave the tithes ofthe Lambay rabbits to the nuns and at that timethe rabbit taxes were worth 100 shillings a year.

In 1467, it was provided by statute that the Earl ofWorcester, then Lord Deputy, be granted Lambayto build a fortress for England’s protection againstthe Spaniards, French and Scots. Worcester paidthe Archbishop of Dublin 40 shillings per annum



and though he had a licence to build a castle onLambay it is not certain that it was actually built.

During the reformation, Archbishop Browngranted the Island to John Challoner for a rentof £6 13s 4d. The conditions were that Challonerwould within 6 years build a village, castle andharbour for the benefit of fishermen and as aprotection against smugglers. He was to inhabitLambay “with a colony of honest men”. He was avery active man who worked four mines for silverand copper and bred falcons on the islands manycliffs.

Challoner still owned Lambay in Elizabethantimes but in 1611 the island was granted to SirWilliam Ussher and his heirs. James Ussher livedon Lambay in 1626 but by 1650 he was residentin London. He was highly respected by Cromwelland to-day lies buried in Westminster Abbey. TheUssher family held the Island for 200 years.In the17th century there was some exploratory lead orcopper mining.

Prisoners On Lambay

After the surrender of the fort of Ballymore inCounty Westmeath to De Ginkle in 1691, 780 sol-diers and 260 rapparees were transported to Lam-bay as prisoners, where they were confined un-til the Treaty of Limerick. No one was allowedland on the island while they were there. Classdistinction existed in those days too as the offi-cers were not sent to Lambay but were retained inDublin Castle. A huge number of the soldiers diedon the island from their wounds and from starva-tion. After the Treaty of Limerick, the Lords Jus-tice, who feared that the rebels might join foreignarmies, did not tell the prisoners the true reasonfor their release. They sent Mr. Francis Cuffe toLambay to promise them their liberty if they tookthe Oath of Allegiance and went home.

In 1805, Lambay passed to Sir William Wolseley,an Ussher descendent, and in 1814 the islandwas acquired by the Talbot family of Malahidewho of course still paid rent to the See of Dublin.An unusual turn of events took place on Lambayin 1860 when the crofters were removed and re-placed them with English and Scots tenants. Be-cause of this action many local names and tradi-tions have been lost. After about 30 years, the Tal-bots switched back to farming.

Count James Consedine purchased Lambay in1888. Prior to this he owned Portrane House buthe sold his house and lands to build PortraneHospital. Count Consedine set about develop-ing the island as a hunting estate and was thefirst man to introduce deer onto the island. Theycame from the Portrane herd.

Recent History

The Baring family bought Lambay Island in 1904and of course, are still in residence there to-day.Originally, the Barings were German Protestantsand were the only British banking family to bankinside the Eastern Block. Charles Dickens makesreference to the Barings in two of his novels.

Cecil Baring worked at the New York branch ofthe family banking business in the latter years ofthe 19th century. He developed a great interest innatural history and travelled extensively in pur-suit of this interest. Cecil Baring’s second wifewas an American and her father, Pierre Lorrilard,the first American to win the Derby, was Cecil’spartner in the bank. Cecil eloped with Maude in1902. Eighteen months after his marriage, whiletravelling in Europe, Cecil saw an advertisementin The Field – “Island for Sale”, and so he boughtLambay in 1904 for £9,000. The island had asmall castle in a state of dereliction. He first em-ployed an unidentified architect from Dublin torenovate and extend the castle before engagingSir Edwin Lutyens to work on the project. This ar-chitectural gem took near five years to completeand is Lutyens main building in Ireland. Sub-sequently, work continued on the constructionof the farm building up to 1915. The open airreal tennis court was added later and the the lastmajor building work was the White House com-pleted in 1934. We will cover the buildings of thecastle and gardens in some detail later. Mean-while, Cecil encouraged a detailed study of theisland’s flora and fauna with the results beingpublished in The Irish Naturalist in 1907. Thegreat Irish naturalist, Praeger, visited the islandabout this time in the course of his perambula-tion about the island of Ireland.

In 1911 when Cecil was made managing partnerof the Bank in London he found it necessary to re-side there but he returned to his beloved Lambayfor two months each summer and also at Christ-



mas. Cecil Baring had three children, Daphne,Calypso and Rupert. His wife died in 1922. Ce-cil died in 1934 having succeeded his older to thetitle of Lord Revelstoke in 1929. They are buriedin the family burial plot on the island. There isa walled graveyard to the south west of the cas-tle which also contains a small church with re-markable stained glass windows. In 1933, just be-fore Cecil’s death, the Doric portico was added tothe original Talbot built chapel. Again maintain-ing an island tradition, the present day residentsgather here for prayer on Sunday mornings.

Cecil’s epitaph reads: “Cecil Baring; 3rd BaronRevelstoke; Born 2nd September 1865; Died 26thJanuary 1934; Of whom this much it shall sufficeto say; He loved his wife, his children and Lam-bay”.

Lambay Island owes its masses of porphyry andgreenstone to volcanic energies, quietened downunknown ages ago. The island is approximately1.5 miles long and 1 mile wide, containing c.750acres of which 650 acres are conducive to farm-ing. Its name has changed over the centuriesfrom Limnus (Ptolemy) to Lambeia (Latin) toReachra (Irish) to Lambay (Norse). The popula-tion of Lambay has also changed drastically overthe years. In 1841, the island population was 115but in 1941 it had dwindled to 30. To-day, it isdown to around 10.

There are many items of interest on Lambay, fromthe white-washed buildings around the harbour(clearly visible from Malahide) some of whichwere formerly occupied by the Coastguard to thepowerhouse with generator and windmill; fromthe now unused golf course on the back of theisland to the real tennis court near the house.Nothing, however, remains of a thatched schoolbuilt by a Dublin priest Fr. Henry Young in 1834and where Master James Vickers, late of Malahidenational School, took up a teaching post in 1855.

Bird Sanctuary

The great Irish naturalist Robert Lloyd Praegervisited the island in 1890 and returned in 1905 tosupervise a natural history survey. However, of allits interesting enchantments, it is as a bird sanc-tuary, established by Cecil Baring, that Lambaywill be best remembered. Here we find in abun-dance the Guillemot who, possibly, lays the most

beautiful eggs in the world – turquoise with vary-ing patterns. These eggs are very pointed at oneend which helps them from rolling off the cliffsinto the sea, but it is a paradox of nature thatthus protected from a watery grave, their elabo-rate colour scheme attracts the preying gulls whodevour them in enormous numbers.

As regards the gulls, Lord Revelstoke “playedhis part” during World War II by exporting over100,000 gulls eggs to feed a hungry Britain.

Puffins are usually to be seen on and aroundLambay with their brightly coloured feet andbeaks. One can also appreciate the Kittiwake andit’s distinctive cry. Cormorants and their smallercousins, the Shags, are plentiful.

In the last century the Grey Lag Geese used tocome from Scandinavia each winter, just liketheir predecessors, the Vikings did in the year790. However, they rarely, if at all, visit the islandnowadays. They had their drawbacks too in thatthey did a fair amount of damage by the amountof grass eaten. Many a visitor to the island will re-member how his clothes changed colour if his ar-rival coincided with the aerial manoeuvres of thegeese.

Lambay’s bird sanctuary is a portrayal of life inminiature, with its domestic strife, territorial ar-guments and aerial bedlam. The birds certainlyadd to the romance of the Island.

Lord Revelstoke’s devotion to his island is ex-pressed in his own poetry:

Lambay is the wind passing byLambay is the goose flying highFlying to the West Wind cryingAs the light is dyingIn the Celtic sky.

The Kittiwake livesOn the Isle of Lambay,Close by the gooseAnd Razorbill.Basking seal,Curlew and tealHave a share in my lifeAnd always will.

Lambay is the sound of the seaCalling, ever calling to me.My land, Sweet enchanted IslandMagic sea and sky landWhere my heart is free.



Cliff-nesting seabird colonies. In 2004, a fullcensus was completed of seabirds on Lambay is-land off north County Dublin, five years on fromthe last complete census of seabirds on the is-land and the following is an extract from thereport published in Wings, the quarterly maga-zine of Birdwatch Ireland “ Lambay holds Ire-land’s largest mixed seabird colony and is of in-ternational importance. We attempted to putLambay’s figures in context by censusing mostof the other seabird colonies in Dublin, Wicklowand Wexford. Censuses were carried at Colt andShenick’s Islands near Skerries, on Ireland’s Eyeand on the main part of Howth Head – all in CoDublin – at Bray Head and Wicklow Head in CoWicklow, and at Great Saltee Island, Co Wexford.We tried to assess whether the recent serious oilspills to the south of us in Brittany (the Erikain December 1999) and in northwest Spain (thePrestige in November 2002) have had any impacton our numbers of cliff-nesting auks, given thatconsiderable numbers of birds ringed in Irelandwere recovered during these oil spill incidents.”

Guillemots. With respect to Guillemots onLambay (58,202 individuals) and on Great Saltee(20,485 individuals), numbers were marginallydown – perhaps due to major mortality of im-mature Irish Guillemots following the Erika andPrestige oil spills and consequent reduced re-cruitment to these colonies.

Shags. This year’s Lambay total of 1,734 pairs ofShags was a very welcome increase on the 1,122counted in Seabird 2000 and the previous max-imum of 1,597 (counted in 1985), it and goesagainst the long-term downwards trend in thepopulation of this species in Britain and Irelandas a whole.

Cormorants. The three large Cormorantcolonies in Dublin – at Lambay, Ireland’s Eye andSt Patrick’s Island – collectively form a ‘super-colony’ that comprises the largest aggregation ofthe species anywhere in Britain or Ireland. In2004, for the first time, we managed to do ac-curate land-based counts at all three colonies inthe one season, and counted 501 pairs on Lam-bay, 583 on Ireland’s Eye, and 957 on St Patrick’sIsland. When compared with the Seabird 2000

totals of 675, 306 and 558 respectively, this repre-sents an overall increase of 500 pairs. The grandtotal of 2,041 Cormorants in the super-colonyrepresents a substantial proportion of the to-tal Irish population of 5,211 pairs recorded inSeabird 2000.

Herring Gulls. The last issue of Wings reportedon the dramatic collapse in Herring Gull breed-ing numbers in Ireland, with a huge decline fromnearly 60,000 in 1969-70 to 6,235 recorded inSeabird 2000, giving rise to the need to ’red-list’the species. This year’s census work showed nosigns of a recovery at Lambay (310), formerly itsmost important colony, or at Ireland’s Eye (134),and the numbers nesting on roofs in Skerrieswere also on the low side.

The Castle

There had been a castle on Lambay from at leastas far back as the 16th century and when CecilBaring acquired the island he set about renovat-ing and extending the structure that then existedinto a modern home. He first engaged an uniden-tified Dublin architect but in 1908 Sir Edwin Lu-tyens took over the task and work continued until1912. It is a castle which is unique in its plan, andis clear-cut proof of the many and varied skills ofMr. Lutyens. In the space of four years he turnedan inconvenient little castle into a home of pe-culiar charm. The name “castle” strictly does notbelong to it, as it has no defensive works beyondits own strong walls. The “castle” is rather in thenature of a block house. Reference to the originalplans shows that the house exists to-day as it wasfirst built, except for additions to the north-eastand south-west sides.

To understand the present day building one mustfirst look back to the early castle on the site asLutyens final accomplishment is a mixture of theold and the new. By 1467 Lambay was describedas “a receptacle for the Kings enemies, to the an-noyance of the mainland”. John Jiptoft, Earl ofWorcester, Lord Deputy in Ireland for Edward IVwas commissioned to build a fortress on the is-land. The present castle had its origins in the16th century. The early castle was constructed fordefending the place as is evidenced by its battle-ments and spoke holes which commanded the is-



land in every direction. The ground storey con-sisted of a central room with four apartments,all of identical shape and size, opening from it,and the arrangement on the upper storey was thesame. Shot-holes were provided in the corners ofthe ground-floor rooms so that the castle defend-ers could shoot assailants as they came round thecorners of the castle. The castle had never beenmore than two storeys. The ground floor has lowvaulted ceilings and the roof was of timber andcovered with slates, which suggests that the roofhad been reconstructed after Worcester’s time. In1904 alterations and repairs were carried out inthe castle and the fast decaying roof was renewed,to make it habitable. The sliding sash-windowswere replaced by teak casements and the roomson the north side, then used as a dairy, were con-verted into living rooms. A cowhouse was con-verted into a kitchen and defects in the masonrywere made good by a plentiful supply of Port-land cement. Such was the state of Lambay Cas-tle in 1905 when Mr. Lutyens first appeared onthe island. He must have found the castle some-what battered by time and its history and char-acter obscured by innumerable “restorations”. Ittook him three years of careful deliberation be-fore work was begun in 1908. The problem facinghim was how to enlarge the existing castle with-out destroying its character.

The few people who have seen the interior ofLambay Castle speak of its beauty and some saythat it is a perfect example of Renaissance Gothicarchitecture. Lutyens also revelled in interior andfurniture design and there are interesting exam-ples of his work in the castle.

The first action taken by Mr. Lutyens was to re-move the cement roof which had proved highlyinefficient. He substituted grey pantiles of de-lightful colour and texture. He next abolishedthe iron down-pipes and gutters. The originalcastle was very primitive in its arrangements,but was left untouched except for slight inter-nal re-arrangements and for the re-building ofthe northeast side, which had already been sub-jected to successive alterations. The ground-floorrooms were entered on the north west side, andonly one fireplace opening existed in the east-ern end of the sitting room. The arch stones ofthis were part of the original building and wereutilised for the new fireplace in the dining room.Other fireplaces were provided in the north en-

trance hall, sitting room and study. On the firstfloor there were originally four fireplaces. The oldentrance was certainly where is now the door tothe north entrance hall. It had been walled up,but was re-opened. The lime mortar and pebble-dash on the outside of the castle walls was re-tained, for the masonry was very rough. A newstaircase was erected in the castle proper and, inthe course of the work, it came to light that theold castle would have either lacked a staircase al-together or had a trapdoor and ladder to connectthe ground with the first floors. Kitchen quartersand additional bedrooms were provided in a newquadrangular block at the east corner, connectedwith the old castle by an under-ground passageonly. This was practicable because the groundslopes sharply upwards to the east. In order togive access from this passage to the upper level ofthe new quadrangular block an important stair-case of stone was built in the south west corner ofthe latter. In the result the two buildings, old andnew, are unconnected at the first floor level andthe castle stands free to tell its own story.

The determination to prevent the new roofs dom-inating the old meant carving a substantial pieceout of the hillside. Although the island is of vol-canic origin, the castle and its grounds occupy asmall remnant of sedimentation in the shape of abed of much-tilted and shaly silurian slates whichlend themselves, more or less reluctantly, to dis-placement by pick and shovel. This difficultyloomed large in the preparation of the ground forthe new block and in the terracing of the northcourt.

Among other causes obstructing the buildingwork were the absence on the island of any ma-terials save stone and sea-sand. All other nec-essaries had to be brought by sailing boats, al-ways a laborious and sometimes a risky process.It may also be guessed that the visits of supervi-sion, extending over years, involved the architectin a peculiar and extensive acquaintance with themoods of the Irish Sea.

In the building of the new wing and of the exten-sive range of garden walls, advantage was takenof the stone that the island affords, a splendidblue-green porphyry, shot with feldspar crystals.As this is rather refractory to work, the mullionsand their dressings are of a cool blue-grey lime-stone that came from the Milverton Quarries,



near Skerries on the mainland and were skillfullywrought by the local quarrymen. The new roofsare also covered by grey pantiles and the sides ofthe dormers are hung with flat tiles of the samecolour. At all times Mr. Lutyens took great carenot to disturb the symmetrical plan of the old cas-tle. The new wing is kept low and markedly do-mestic in character, so that it does not competewith the military note of the old castle.

The buildings are surrounded by a rampart whichrises to twenty feet at the western entrance gateand gradually recedes into the rising ground un-til it is no more than a token stone perturbanceabove the ground to the east. The kitchen courtis particularly attractive, with its broad sweep ofpantiled roof, its demure dormers and its pave-ment, part of slabs and part cobbled. The stonestair in the new wing has a fine dignity about itand the oak landing and balustrade of the newstair in the castle proper are Jacobean in char-acter. Considerable alteration was necessary tocreate the present sitting-room out of two smallchambers, and the new pointed arches are verysuccessful. On the first floor of the old castle areconnecting bedrooms and a nursery suite. Thewood casements were removed and iron case-ments, set in mullions of the Milverton limestone,were used throughout the building.

To fully appreciate the massive undertaking byMr. Lutyens one must remember that all theheavy machinery required for the work had tobe dismantled at Rogerstown Quay near Rush,ferried out on the Shamrock then re-assembledon site. All building requirements had to be im-ported, as, needless to say, there’s no local hard-ware shop on the island.

In 1946 Rupert Baring, son of Cecil Baring andgodson of Lutyens, took up residence on Lam-bay and became something of a recluse. How-ever, he (Lord Revelstoke) carried out some reme-dial work on the castle including re-roofing withconcrete pantiles. When he died in 1994 it wasfound that the fabric of the castle was deteriorat-ing due to age and damp. Since then renovationand conservation work has been going on underthe direction of the present occupants, Cecil Bar-ing’s granddaughter and her husband, guided bythe firm of conservation architects Messrs How-ley Harrington. A modern wind powered electric-ity generator has been installed which enables a

degree of heating to keep the damp at bay and, ofcourse, the castle is now once again an occupiedfamily home. All this bodes well for the futureof one of the most important private residencesbuilt in Ireland in the 20th century.

Gardens

Beautiful gardens surround the house and thereis also a separate very attractive walled garden.A feature of the island growth is the profuse wayin which fuchsias thrive. In Lambay, as in Con-nemara, the soft sea air swiftly turns a low bush into a great hedge, brilliant with showers of crimsonblossom. Not often can it be said of an old build-ing that additions covering an even greater areahave failed to take away the charm of the old, andstill more rarely that they have increased it – butno less is true of Lambay Castle. It is worthy of theisland, which is to say much. To-day, the castlesits, surrounded by an island of flowers. On thecliffs grow acres of scurvy-grass, with its creamywhite flowers smelling like honey, and floodingthe land with blossom. Grass, bracken, heath,rush and blazing with stonecrop and golden sam-phire, swords bright with the cool grey-blue ofsulla verna enclosed by banks of sea pink andgreat stretches of purple heather- these are thepictures framed by the margin of low water rocksblack with fungus or brilliant with yellow lichen.

Indeed, one could not be blamed for thinking inthe realms of a fairy castle in an enchanted island.

Footnote — Island Life Today

Lambay is about 250 ha. in area and rises to about127m. at its highest point (Knockbane). Thoughonly four km. off the Fingal coast the island is iso-lated and many of the trappings and comforts ofmodern living which mainland dwellers take forgranted are not so readily available.

A 25 kw wind powered generator, installed in2001, provides electricity for lighting and a verylimited amount of electric storage heating but lit-tle else. Cooking is by bottled gas brought overfrom the mainland along with food and otherconsumables but adverse weather can disruptservice on occasions. The island is farmed organ-ically. Vegetables and fruit are grown in the walledgarden and one milking cow is kept. Cattle and



sheep are grazed. Hay is made and some tillageundertaken with the help of modern farm ma-chinery including a large tractor brought acrossin recent times on the Shamrock. Maintenanceof the built heritage on the island is a major con-cern and cost for the owners. In summer guests

are accommodated in the renovated coastguardhouses and the White House. There are no landline telephones but mobile reception is available.And yes there are wallabies on the island – seven-teen at the last count and increasing plus a seri-ous plague of rabbits, perhaps as many as 15,000!

This article was written by the late Tom O’Shea. It was originally published in Malahide News in 1989.

See http://www.malahideheritage.com/LambayIsland.htm


http://www.malahideheritage.com/Lambay Island.htm

o'shea, tom -- lambay island

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