St. Colmcille’s Boys’ National School, Chapel Lane, Swords, Co.Dublin K67 WP65

(01) 8405132

St Colmcille's BNS

Ní neart go cur le chéile

Prison

During the Williamite wars, the island was used as a prison. About 800 of James’s soldiers and 300 Rapparees were kept there for the duration of the war. Some escaped by swimming to Portrane and Rush. Thomas Challoner was granted Lambay by Archbishop Browne in 1541. He built a fortress and a village on the island, and he imported a “colony of honest men” to fight the pirates and smugglers who attacked the island. Archbishop Ussher’s family rented the island to Lord Talbot of Malahide and the Talbot family was in charge of the island until the end of the 19th Century. Lord Revelstoke took it over at this stage, and his heirs are the present owners.