Inch Island (; Also spelled in Irish as ''An Inis''.) is in

Inishowen Inishowen () is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland. The Inishowen peninsula includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head. The Grianan of Aileach, a ringfort ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

, Ireland. The island is in

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...

, a sea

lough ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spel ...

on the northern coast of Ireland. ''Discoverer Series'' Sheet 7 (F Edition).

Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland {{Unreferenced, date=April 2021 Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) was the official mapping agency of Northern Ireland. The agency ceased to exist separately on 1 April 2008 when it became part of Land and Property Services, an executiv ...

(O.S.N.I.), Land and Property Services,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, 2017.

Geography and History

Inch Island is around 5 square miles (13 square kilometres) in area. The island lies in

, Inch being just off the south-western coast of the

mainland, near the village of

Burt Burt is a given name and also a shortened form of other names, such as Burton and Herbert, or a place name. Burt may refer to: People *Burt Alvord (1866–after 1910), American Old West lawman and outlaw *Burt Bacharach (born 1928), American com ...

. Inch Island is connected to the mainland by a causeway road, known as the Inch Banks. The island's highest hill, Inch Top, is 222 metres in height. Another

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

name for Inch Island is ''Inis na nOsirí'', meaning 'Island of the Oysters'.

Population

The table reports data taken from ''Discover the Islands of Ireland'' (Alex Ritsema, Collins Press, 1999) and the

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of Ireland.

Relevant buildings

The remains of a

portal tomb A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were som ...

with a nearby

burial chamber A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could ...

, probably constructed using parts of the original tomb, is located near Carnaghan (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''Baile Mhic Cearnachain'') on the south-western part of the island. A 15th century castle, known as Inch Castle, stands on a cliff overlooking

. At the northern tip of the island is Inch Fort, an early 19C defensive structure. The island's

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

church is one of the smallest of the surrounding area (just some 14 families are members of it); the island's

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church, usually known simply as 'the Chapel', is dedicated to

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, ...

and was built in 1932.

Nature

Inch island is a well known

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

site with a relevant population of migratory and wintering birds. Bird species on the island include Greenland white fronted goose,

whooper swan The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/) (''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, pronounced ''hooper swan'', is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type speci ...

and

greylag goose The greylag goose or graylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A ...

Tourism

Inch Wildfowl Reserve features an 8 km looped walk, catering for outdoor recreational activity including walking, running and cycling. The site includes two car parks, seating, viewpoints and a number of bird hides open to the public. This scenic pathway follows around the lake edge and offers panoramic views of the surrounding agricultural landscape and wetlands.

References

External links

The island page on discoverireland.ie
{{County Donegal Islands of County Donegal