The price of an iconic island off the coast of Aryshire

The price of an iconic island off the coast of Aryshire has been cut by £1m after a two-year wait for a buyer.

Ailsa Craig was put on the market in May 2011 with a price tag of £2.5m.

The rocky outcrop rises 1100ft out of the sea despite having a circumference of just two miles and lies roughly halfway between Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Across the Irish Sea its location has earned it the nickname "Paddy's Milestone" as it is roughly equidistant between Glasgow and Belfast.

It was put on the market two years ago by the Scottish peer Archibald Angus Charles Kennedy, the 8th Marquess of Ailsa.

But selling agents Knight Frank admitted that they had struggled to find a suitable buyer and have now reduced the price to £1.5m.

The island's portfolio contains a house, lighthouse, a ruined castle, three former lighthouse keepers' cottages and a quarry best known for providing the world's finest curling stones.

The lighthouse was built by Thomas Stevenson in the 1880s, while the house occupies a sheltered position below the cliff on the east side.

Ailsa Craig is also famous for its gannet colony, managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which has around 36,000 breeding pairs.