Lady Isle

It was once home to a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary. The island features a lighthouse and a freshwater spring. One suggestion is that the name 'Lady' is actually derived from the Scottish Gaelic word Laidh, meaning a 'ship's course'. Lady Isle has probably always been important to navigators as is shown by the fact that in the 17th century, the Magistrates of Glasgow built two stone pillars on the Isle, and lining them up from the east gave a good anchorage from a north west gale.

Lady Isle is owned by the Marquess of Ailsa and was for many years leased out as a bird sanctuary with a bird observatory and warden's post built and run by the Scottish Society for the Protection of Wild Birds (SSPWB).