Sheep Island is an uninhabited grassy island of around 15 acre (6 ha), located just over 1/4 mi from the shore of Walney Island

Walney Island

The Isle of Walney, also known as Walney Island, is an island in the United Kingdom which lies off the west coast of England, at the northern tip of Morecambe Bay. It forms part of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, and it is separated from the mainland at Barrow by Walney Channel, a narrow channel...

, opposite Snab Point. It is one of the Islands of Furness

Islands of Furness

The Islands of Furness are situated to the south-west and east of the Furness Peninsula. Within England, they are the third biggest collection of islands. They are generally quite small, though at 12.99 km2 Walney Island is the 8th biggest in England. Of these, only Walney Island, Barrow...

 and is in the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...

 in Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

 in north-west England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The island's geographic location is, using the British national grid reference system

British national grid reference system

The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using latitude and longitude....

, .

Sheep Island is accessible on foot at low tide from either Walney, or from Piel Island

Piel Island

Piel Island lies half a mile off the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula in the administrative county of Cumbria, though historically within Lancashire north of the sands. It is located at . It is one of the Islands of Furness in Northern England...

 - a distance of about a mile (approx. 1.5 km). The island is uninhabited and there is no shelter. Between 1892 and 1922 it included a small isolation hospital located within a wooden building, which was erected by Barrow Borough Council at a cost of £257 but seldom used.