Sheep Island is an uninhabited grassy island of around , located just over from the shore of
Walney Island
Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. It is part of Barrow-in-Furness, separated from the mainland by Walney Channel, which is spanned b ...
, opposite Snab Point. It is one of the
Islands of Furness
The Islands of Furness are situated to the south-west and east of the Furness Peninsula. Within England, they are the third biggest collection of islands. They are generally quite small, though at 12.99 km2 Walney Island is the eighth ...
and is in the Borough of
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...
in north-west England. The island's geographic location is, using the
British national grid reference system
The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system (OSGB) (also known as British National Grid (BNG)) is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, distinct from latitude and longitude.
The Ordnance Survey (OS) devised the ...
, .
Sheep Island is accessible on foot at low tide from either Walney, or from
Piel Island
Piel Island lies in Morecambe Bay , around off the southern tip of the Furness peninsula in the administrative county of Cumbria, England. It is one of the Islands of Furness, three of which sit near to Piel at the mouth of Walney Channel. Th ...
- a distance of about a mile (approx. 1.5 km). The island is uninhabited and there is no shelter. Between 1892 and 1922 it included a small isolation hospital located within a wooden building, which was erected by
Barrow Borough Council
Barrow-in-Furness is a local government district with borough status in Cumbria, England. It is named after its main town, Barrow-in-Furness. Other settlements include Dalton-in-Furness and Askam-in-Furness. It is the smallest district in the c ...
at a cost of £257 but seldom used.
Islands of Furness
Uninhabited islands of England
Barrow-in-Furness
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