Roa Island
Island Passport
Collect Roa Island
Be the first to collect it
Tidal island. Stamps are never worth a risky crossing. Check official safe crossing times and local signs before walking out.
Roa Island is a small island of about three hectares off Rampside at the southern tip of the Furness peninsula in Cumbria, joined to the mainland by a causeway since 1846. Home to about 100 people, it is the departure point for the little ferry to Piel Island and its castle.
Landscape
The island is low and almost entirely built over, with houses, a lifeboat station, a yacht club, a café and a jetty facing Piel Island across the harbour channel. The Islands of Furness lie off the southern tip of the Furness peninsula and in Morecambe Bay, where the tide races in across miles of sand and quicksand.
History
Until 1847 Roa was a true island, reached by boat or across the sands at low tide. The London banker John Abel Smith bought it in 1840 and built a causeway to the mainland and an 810-foot deep-water pier from which steamers sailed to Fleetwood, linked to the Furness Railway. The arrangement led to long disputes between Smith and the railway company. Barrow’s RNLI lifeboat station is now on the island.
Until 1847 Roa was a true island, reached by boat or across the sands at low tide.
Visiting
Roa Island is reached by road along the causeway from Rampside. In summer a small ferry runs from the jetty to Piel Island. You can collect Roa Island as a landing in your Island Passport.
Wildlife and area
Eiders, oystercatchers, curlews and little egrets are found around the island, with grey seals in the channel. Nearby islands include Piel Island, Sheep Island (Furness) and Foulney Island.
Tides
Now
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Next high water
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Next low water
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Not for crossing. These are modelled tide heights, not safe crossing times. Tidal causeways and sands can flood quickly: always check the official safe crossing times and local signs before walking out.
Heights in metres relative to mean sea level; times are UK time. Not for navigation. Tide model: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
How to get to Roa Island
You can reach Roa Island on foot.
On foot, over the causeway
You can walk to Roa Island at low tide. The way across floods quickly as the tide turns: check the safe crossing times and local signs, and never cross on a rising tide.
Plan your trip
Timetables change, so always check with the operator before you travel. We may earn a commission if you book through some of these links, at no extra cost to you.
Wildlife
5 species recorded on the island
Highlights
All wildlife
Loading all 5 species…
Nothing on the list is usually seen this month.
Recordings from Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons licences; hover a Listen button for the recordist. Sightings are records shared with GBIF since 2000.
Watching wildlife responsibly. Keep your distance from seals, seabird colonies and cetaceans, stay quiet, and never feed or chase wildlife. See the WiSe Scheme guidance for watching marine wildlife.
