Rathlin Island

Rathlin Island, sparsely vegetated island, 10 km (6 mi) off the coast of Moyle, north-east Northern Ireland, and only 19 km (12 mi) from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Around 10 km (6 mi) in length, Rathlin is Northern Ireland’s only inhabited island. It has one serviceable road of 18 km (11 mi) and a nature reserve owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

The first part of Ireland to be raided by the Vikings (ad 795), the island is riddled with caves, one of which, now called Bruce’s Cave, is said to have been where Robert Bruce retreated in 1306 after being defeated by the English at Perth. The legend goes that Bruce was inspired by a persistent spider repeatedly trying to spin a web on the roof of the cave, took heart, and decided to return to Scotland to reclaim the throne. He eventually defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn. The island has been the scene of three massacres, the worst of which took place in 1595 when the English Fleet slaughtered the entire population. It was deserted for many years afterwards. In 1898 Guglielmo Marconi used the island to test his experimental wireless, broadcasting from Ballycastle on the mainland.