Visitors

The Rams Island Team welcome visitors at all times of the year and ask that when you are visiting pay respect to the wildlife,the environment and other visitors. The principles of leave no trace are very relevant on Rams Island. We also have a no dogs policy except working/guide dogs We request that large groups only visit outside the breeding season (March - June Inclusive).
Contact us in advance of visiting and we will try our best to arrange a guided tour of the Island's highlights.

The Team can be contacted by

email wardens warden@ramsisland.org
email chairman chairman@ramsisland.org
email secretary secretary@ramsisland.org
General enquiries to Wardens, Suggestions and Complaints to Secretary

Contact us

Jane Cardwell Lyttle
This lady (93 years old) is a grandaughter of Jane and Robert Cardwell the last wardens to live and die on Rams Island in 1933 and 1929 respectively. The ashes of her sister Sadie who lived on the Island with Jane and Robert when she was a child were placed on the Island last year.

Belfast Naturalists' Field Club Visit Rams Island June 2012

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Belfast Naturalists' Field Club is a club of naturalists based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.Founded in 1863, the club was an important part of the education system for Victorian naturalists and worked largely through first-hand field studies. It has been credited with playing an important role in the elucidation of glacial and post-glacial sea levels, climates and fossil beaches and issuing the first of the regional handbooks for meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science as far back as 1874. The club has four sections, Archeology & History, Botany, Geology and Zoology, and has published several books and a periodical. The Herbarium of the BNFC is now in the Ulster Museum.

Rams Island
Some distance out from Gartree Point
In the waters of Lough Neagh
There's a lovely little island
That is in the news today
It's an island steeped in history
From times of long ago
And it played a part in the last world war
As many people know
It was in the year of forty-four
On the countdown to D-day
The flying boats took shelter
At Rams Island in Lough Neagh

There's a round tower on Rams Island
That was built of island stone
Back in the eleventh century
When the Monks made this their home
There is an ancient graveyard there
Where skeletons had been found
The last resting place of Monks and men
On this lovely island ground

There's a summer house on Rams Island
Which is now in disrepair
From nineteen thirty seven
No one has lived there
A fire did destroy this house
In the year of forty-four
The ruins now surrounded by beech and sycamore
But work is now in progress
To help nature on it's way
To reinstate the beauty
Of this island in Lough Neagh

So if ever around Antrim you happen to stray
I advise you to visit the shores of Lough Neagh
Take a trip to Rams Island
And I know you will find
A place full of beauty that nature designed

Eugene McGaughey
The Bard of the Glens

Twas Pretty To Be In Ballinderry

'
'Twas pretty to be in Ballinderry,
'Twas pretty to be in Aghalee
Still prettier to be on bonny Ram's Island
Sitting forever beneath a tree.
For often I sailed to bonny Ram's Island,
Arm in arm with Phelim, my diamond
And he would whistle and I would sing,
And we would make the whole island ring.
"I'm going," he said, "from bonny Ram's Island
Out and across the deep blue sea,
And if in your heart you love me, Mary,
Open your arms at last to me."
'Twas pretty to be in Ballinderry
But now it's as sad as sad can be,
For the ship that sailed with Phelim, my diamond,
Is sunk forever beneath the sea.
'Twas pretty to be in Ballinderry,
'Twas pretty to be in Aghalee
Still prettier to be on bonny Ram's Island
Sitting forever beneath a tree.

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Jane Cardwell Lyttle

Sample Title

Twas Pretty To Be In Ballinderry