Rutland Island (), also sometimes known as Inishmacadurn, is an island in

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 ...

, and an electoral and census reporting district covering it, surrounding islands and part of the mainland. The island itself has no permanent inhabitants, but the district, which includes

Burtonport or (English name: Burtonport) is a fishing village about northwest of Dungloe in The Rosses district of County Donegal, Ireland. The main employers in the village were the Burtonport Fishermen's Co-op and the ''Bord Iascaigh Mhara Bord ...

and its environs, had 1,428 residents in 2006. The island lies between Burtonport and the inhabited

Arranmore ''Árainn Mhór'' (English name: Arranmore) is an island off the west coast of County Donegal, Ireland. Arranmore is the largest inhabited island of County Donegal, with a population of 469 in 2016, but has had a gradually falling native popula ...

Island, and is not officially served by ferry.

History

The island was previously populated, with a planned settlement having been established by

William Burton Conyngham William Burton Conyngham (1733 – 31 May 1796) was an Irish politician and improver. Life He was born William Burton, the second son of Francis Burton and Mary Conyngham, sister of Henry Conyngham, 1st Earl Conyngham. In 1781, his name was c ...

from 1784, including a street of residences and business premises, with the area's

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, school house and a fish landing and processing facility being built in this village. While fish catches declined heavily shortly after construction, with services closing or leaving, the island remained inhabited into the 1960s. Mains electricity reached the island in 1957, due to its being a crucial stepping stone for the

supply, but piped water has never been provided for its remaining housing stock, which consists entirely of holiday homes. Rutland Island has become a popular holiday destination with a number of holiday homes built in the first decade of the 2000s.

Demographics

Tarent Street, Rutland Island built 1789 - geograph

The table below reports data on Rutland's population 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 incl ...

of Ireland. Census data in Ireland before 1841 are not considered complete and/or reliable.

Fauna

Badgers have been recorded from this island. There is evidence that their diet is poor. The island is also home to some foxes.

Flora

The following

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

have been reported from Rutland South Channel: ''Gracilaria gracilis'' (Stackhouse) Steentoft, L.M. Irvine et Farnham; ''

Rhodymenia ''Rhodymenia'' is a genus of red algae Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with ...

holmesii'' Ardissone; ''

Polysiphonia ''Polysiphonia'' is a genus of filamentous red algae with about 19 species on the coasts of the British Isles and about 200 species worldwide, including Crete in Greece, Antarctica and Greenland. Its members are known by a number of common names. ...

fucoides'' (Hudson) Greville; ''

nigra'' (Hudson) Batters; ''Sphondylothamnion multifidum'' (Hudson) Nägeli; ''Heterosiphonia plumosa'' (J. Ellis) Batters.Morton, O. 2003. The marine macroalgae of County Donegal, Ireland. ''Bulletin Irish Biogeographical Society'' no. 27: 3 - 164

References

{{County Donegal Former populated places in Ireland Gaeltacht places in County Donegal Ghost towns in Europe Islands of County Donegal Uninhabited islands of Ireland Planned communities in the Republic of Ireland