Inishtrahull Island
thumb|260px|The lighthouse on Inishtrahull thumb|260px|Landing place on Inishtrahull Inishtrahull (, possibly "island of the empty beach" or "island of the yonder beach") is the most northerly island of Ireland. It has an area of and lies about northeast of Malin Head, County Donegal, and just over southwest of the island of Orsay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The most northerly landfall of Ireland, the Tor Beg rock, is another kilometre to the north. Inishtrahull is home to Ireland's northernmost lighthouse. The island had a resident community until 1929 and the lighthouse was staffed u
Key facts
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- Inishtrahull
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- Island
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- NASA World Wind Geocover 2000 image of Inistrahull (top right)
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- InishtrahullRevised.png
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- Ireland
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- right
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- Location in Ireland
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- Sovereign state
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- Ireland
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- Province
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- County
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- Ulster
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Geology
- Flora and fauna
- Important Bird Area
- Population and history
- Last sight of Ireland
- Attractions
- References
thumb|260px|The lighthouse on Inishtrahull thumb|260px|Landing place on Inishtrahull Inishtrahull (, possibly "island of the empty beach" or "island of the yonder beach") is the most northerly island of Ireland. It has an area of and lies about northeast of Malin Head, County Donegal, and just over southwest of the island of Orsay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The most northerly landfall of Ireland, the Tor Beg rock, is another kilometre to the north. Inishtrahull is home to Ireland's northernmost lighthouse. The island had a resident community until 1929 and the lighthouse was staffed until 1987. Today it is uninhabited and has been designated a protected area due to its wildlife.
==Geology== The island is formed of a granitic gneiss, a type of metamorphic rock, which is known as Inishtrahull Gneiss. It is dated at 1.7 billion years old, making it Paleoproterozoic in age, and is the oldest known rock on the Irish Islands. The Inishtrahull Gneiss is considered to form part of the Rhinns complex that is also exposed on the islands of Islay and Colonsay. The Rhinns complex is correlated with the Ketilidian metamorphic belt of southern Greenland and the Svecofennian of Scandinavia.