Chapter 22.

Lambay,

an island of nearly an oval form, about two miles long and a mile and a quarter. broad, comprising 1,371 acres, and accounted as part of the parish of East Lusk. Its substratum consists of conglomerated rocks of different kinds, chiefly of argillaceous schist, including fragments of other rocks. There is also a stratum of sandstone conglomerate at its northern’ extremity. In some places the schist is greatly contorted, while, limestone and porphyry are extremely abundant, alternating with and passing into greywacke. The surface is very susceptible of cultivation, and Archer asserts that there are strong indications of coal here.

There is a very curious old polygon edifice on the island, apparently constructed for defending the place, as its battlements and spikeholes command the island in every direction. It has been built entirely upon arches without timber. Near it is a village inhabited by some husbandmen, who partly plough the island, and on the rest feed cattle and sheep. The harbour, which was erected by public grants, is in good repair, but dry, and does not afford shelter to a boat when the wind blows hard from any point. The depth of water at the pier head is 16 feet. There is also here a curious spring of fine water dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. On the north coast slips may anchor in 12 and 13 fathoms for a southerly wind. For a sea-wind the ships must ride on the west side over against the castle, but that [434] road is not very good, “because always in that sound, being about three miles broad, there goeth a great sea.” [Boate’s Nat. Hist. of Ireland, p.20.] The best roadstead in easterly winds is to the westward of the island, between the Burren rock on the south and the reefs called the Tailors on the north. The ground is low and level; boats and smacks may sail hence when they would be wind bound in every creek on the main. They would be at all times from five to nine miles nearer the fishery ground, and might run hither for shelter when, except Howth, no other place is accessible on the coast. A pier might be constructed here for about £1,000, which would be of the greatest utility in sheltering wherries and coasters.

On the island rabbits and sea fowl abound; of the latter the Cornish chough, *corvus graculus, *with red bill and shanks, is frequently seen here; also the rock pigeon, *columba rupicola; *and, according to Rutty, the *anas artica *often rests upon it, appearing in April and May and departing in July and August. All about the rocky shore is a great plenty of crabs, oysters, and lobsters. The latter fishery would form a lucrative branch of industry in this country, but it is not efficiently worked. Lobsters exist in great plenty on various points of the coast, yet the English markets derive their principal supplies from Norway, while in the Irish markets lobsters are scarce, dear, and often not to be had. Between Lambay and Rock-a-Bill there is a natural bed of the large rock oyster, which is dredged occasionally, but the produce [435] is trifling. A species of the barilla plant is said to grow upon the island, and it is almost entirely encompassed by a plentiful kelp coast.

So early as the days of Pliny and Ptolemy, Lambay was known by the name of Limnus, or Limni.

In 1184 Prince John bestowed it on the see of Dublin, an endowment which Pope Clement the Third confirmed in 1188. The title of the Archbishops of Dublin was not, however, complete until 1204, when the religious house of Christ’s Church, for valuable consideration, relinquished some claims which it had thereto. See at “Portrane.”

In 1837 occurs a patent of confirmation for a chantry within the island, but no traces of such a building or other evidence of its endowment are to be found. In the same year King Edward confirmed’ the right of the see of Dublin to this island, as did King Richard when in Dublin in 1394; subsequent to which it, was appropriated to the nunnery of Grace Dieu.

In 1467 Lambay being “without defence of a Castle, and a receptacle for the king’s enemies as Britons, Spaniards, French, and Scots, to the annoyance of the main land,” it was provided by statute that the Earl of Worcester, then Lord Deputy, should have the said island to him and his heirs, to build a fortress on, paying to the Archbishop of Dublin and his successors 40 shillings per annum; while, in furtherance of the same object, the king in 1496, by writ, reciting that he had learned by a petition of the Convent and Prior of St. Patrick’s of Holmpatrick, that the island of Lambay had on its shores various havens and creeks, in which pirates were accustomed to shelter, and that the said prior and convent were seised in right of their house of a little island called Mellock near Skerry, from which, when the tide was out a dry way was open to Lambay, and that, if a fortified harbour and wall were constructed upon this, it would be of great benefit, granted license to them to construct same accordingly; and further gave to them in frankalmoigne all customs, duties, cokets, and poundages on things imported there, to the annual amount of 20 marks sterling for ever. [Rot. Pat. in Canc. Hib.] This notice is the more remarkable, as the space between Holmpatrick and Lambay is now wholly impassable at the lowest ebb of the tide.

For a notice of Lambay in 1541 see at “Grace Dieu.” In 1543 the Lord Deputy, in his report to the king relative to the havens of Ireland, states Lambay to be “a good road for all manners of winds.” And again he adds, “there be also in divers coasts of this realm Britons and Frenchmen that do some hurt upon the sea, and for that your Majesty’s ships lie at Lambay, and be as they say restrained by your Highness’s instructions not to exceed certain bounds, they cannot advance to do none enterprise upon the other frontiers of this your realm, and for as much, gracious Lord, as your Admiral here made me, in some part privy to the same his instructions, whereby it appeareth your prudent foresight to stay as well the resource out of France into Scotland, and also out of Scotland to France; and for that appointed your navy to lie at Lambay, for it is thought that the Frenchmen and Scots both have knowledge of your said navy and where they lie, and so may they pass between the same Lambay and the Holly-head, which is three-score or four-score miles, without danger of the same your navy.” [State Papers, temp. Hen. VIII.]

In 1551 Archbishop Browne had license to alien and let to fee farm, with the consent of the chapter of Christ Church, to John Challoner and his heirs, the entire island of Lambay, with the courts leet and all other hereditaments thereunto belonging; besides the whole coast of the said island at a rent of £6 13s. 4d., provided that he or his heirs should within six years build on said island a town or village for the habitation of fishermen, with a place of refuge circumvallated with a mound, to which they might resort in ease of any sudden irruption, and also should make within the said term a harbour for the fishermen’s boats, on whatever part of the shore of said island he should think fit; as it appeared that the said Challoner had brought over to the island a colony of the king’s subjects to inhabit and render it safe from pirates and smugglers. Accordingly the embattled edifice, before alluded to, is with much probability attributed to him.

[437] In the reign of Queen Elizabeth a grant of this island was made to Sir William Usher in fee, subject to an annual payment of £6 to the see of Dublin.

In 1604 King James granted to Donogh Earl of Thomond the rectory and tithes of Lambay, as theretofore demised to Sir Robert Napper, and then lately granted in fee farm to Sir James Fullerton. [Rot. Pat. in Canc. Hib.] See at “Ballyowen” in 1602.

In 1650 the celebrated Primate Usher, a descendant of the above Sir William, when the plague raged in Dublin, retired into this island with his family, and here is said to have composed some of his works.

In 1691, after the surrender of the fort of Ballymore in the County of Westmeath to de Ginkle, 780 soldiers and 260 “rapparees,” who were found therein, were sent prisoners to Dublin and thence to Lambay, [Story’s Impartial History, p. 91.] where they were confined until the treaty of Limerick; all persons being prohibited from passing over to the island under heavy penalties. The Lords Justices, however, did not at once avow to the prisoners the cause of their enlargement, as conditioned by that treaty, fearing they might enter into foreign service. “For this end, on the day the articles of Limerick were signed, they wrote to Mr. Francis Cuffe, then in Dublin, immediately to go to Lambay, with such persons as he should judge necessary, and to discourse with the prisoners, without letting them know that they were by treaty to be discharged, and to quaint them that if they would take the oath of allegiance, and promise to go to their respective habitations, they should be set at liberty, and permitted to live quietly at home.” [Harris’s Life of William the Third, p. 351.]

From the Usher family, Lambay was purchased by that of Talbot; and Lord Talbot de Malahide is now its proprietor, subject however, to the chief rent to the see of Dublin. A yearly pattern used to be held at a holy well in the island, until the present century, on every Trinity Sunday.

About the year 1829 the pier was completed here, from which time it became a small fishing station.

[438] [I missed half a line here. KF] interesting; it abounds with the *veronica officinalis, *common speedwell, with flesh-coloured flowers; *aira praecox, *early hair grass; *crithmum maritimum, *samphire; *sambucus ebulus, *dwarf elder; *arenaria marina, *spurry sandwort. - In the marshy places, *montia fontana, *water blinks; *drosera rotundifolia, *round-leaved sundew; *trifolium maritimum, *teasel-headed trefoil; *senecio aquaticus, *marsh ragwort; *orchis latifolia, *marsh palmate orchis. - On the rocks, *statice armeria, *sea pink; *geraniam sanguineum, *bloody crane’s bill; *inula crithmoides, *samphire-leaved flea-bane. - On the sea shore, *limbarda crithmoides, *golden samphire, flowering in August and September. - On the dry heaths, a variety of the *erica cinerea, *with white flowers. - In the sandy fields, *trifolium arvense, *hair’s-foot trefoil; *trifolium scabrum, *rough-rigid trefoil: while the west side of the island presents *aenanthe peucedanfolia, *sulphur-wort; and *aenanthe pimpinelloides, *parsley water dropwort, flowering in July.

Returning to the mainland, a sandy shore, interspersed with low ledges of rock, leads to

Ch. 23. Loughshinny.