Oileán Ruaidh ( ga, red island),

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Island Roy, also called Oileán an Bhráighe ( ga, island of the captive), is a small island in Mulroy Bay,

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 Tyrconne ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

.Map

Ordnance Survey Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ga, Suirbhéireacht Ordanáis Éireann) is the national mapping agency of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It is the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the ...

. Retrieved: 2013-03-14.

Geography

Oileán Ruaidh is low lying, gravel-based, and occupies . It has green fields, abundant growth of seaweed - used for healthy bathing - and the landscape has views of Rossapenna's sand-dunes, the surrounding Mulroy coastline, and the Donegal hills. The island is located approximately 3.5 miles from the mainland villages of

Downings Downings or Downies () is a ''Gaeltacht'' village and townland on the Rosguill peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland. The village is on the shores of Sheephaven Bay on the north coast of Ireland. Name As the village is in a ''Gaeltacht'' district ...

and

Carrigart Carraig Airt (anglicised as Carrigart or Carrickart) is a small Gaeltacht village in the barony of Kilmacrennan to the north of County Donegal, Ireland. The village is on the R245 route between Letterkenny and Creeslough. Situated as it is at th ...

Etymology

The island was formerly known as Oileán an Bhráighe, meaning 'island of the prisoners,' which is its official name. It formerly had links with Doe Castle on Rossapenna, so this probably explains the origin of that name. The present name, Oileán Ruaidh, means 'red island,' so called for the vibrant rusty colour of the vegetation in winter. The English name, 'Island Roy' is an anglicisation created by surveyors in the 19th century.

History

There has been continuous settlement here for several hundred if not thousands of years, and most of the island's residents are descended from original settlers. The island faced desertion in the early 19th century when Lord Leitrim sought to banish his tenants and put the island's pastures to use for cattle grazing. His plans were thwarted by a female resident who held a 99-year lease on her land, and so all the tenants were allowed to remain and the island was saved for its people. Today, 26 people live on the island, though it held over 65 some decades ago. Farming, shellfish-rearing, and tourism are the main ways of life of the islanders. They have invested in new infrastructure to cater for the growing visitor demand. A nickel-iron

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

found on the surface of the planet Mars by the

Opportunity rover ''Opportunity'', also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, is a robotic rover that was active on Mars from 2004 until 2018. ''Opportunity'' was operational on Mars for sols (). Launched on July 7, 2003, as part of NASA's M ...

in 2010 was named Oileán Ruaidh by scientists at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

in Pasadena, California.PIA13418: Opportunity's Close-up of a Meteorite: 'Oileán Ruaidh' (False Color)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2010-10-05.

References

External links

Island Roy / Oileán Ruaidh to be twinned with Mars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oilean Ruaidh Islands of County Donegal