The Isle of Man - A Walker's Guidebook

40 walks throughout the island, with information (including history and Manx myth and language) to ensure a walking visit to the Isle is time well spent. Covers headlands, peaks (especially Snaefell), glens, coastal walks, beaches, cliffs.

For most people, the Isle of Man is an enigma. Most often heard, sadly, is the comment ‘I’ve always wanted to go, but never got round to it’.

Few would think of the island as a walker’s paradise – yet it is, as this book will demonstrate. Fewer still know anything about the island, save that it has an annual motorcycle race of some severity, that it is something of a tax haven, that Manx cats have no tails, and (I’m pushing it now) the island’s bishop has the title ‘Bishop of Sodor and Man’. Very few indeed could explain the way the island is governed: is it part of Britain? (No); the United Kingdom? (No); the Commonwealth, then? (Yes). Yet, the Isle of Man is at the very centre (give or take) of the British Isles, roughly equidistant from the other countries. Indeed, they say that on a clear day it is possible to see seven kingdoms: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Man, and the kingdoms of Heaven and the Sea.

The name of the island has some interesting derivations. Julius Caesar mentions an island ‘In the middle of the Channel’ (by which he meant the Irish Sea), which he called ‘Mona’, a name also associated with Anglesey, off the Welsh coast. This confusion wasn’t eased when Pliny the Elder, writing in AD 74, listed the islands between Britain and Ireland, and included Mona, by which he probably meant Anglesey, and Monapia, which is thought to have been the Isle of Man. Paulus Orosius (c AD 400) refers to ‘Menavia’, a place ‘of no mean size, with fertile soil, inhabited by a tribe of Scots’. The geographer who visited Britain at the time of Hadrian called the island ‘Monaoida’, while an Irish monk, Nennius (AD 858) refers to ‘Eubonia’. Later still, the Irish and Welsh forms become more consistently used, ‘Mannan’ and ‘Mannaw’ respectively. The first name-form occurring on the island is on a runic cross in Kirk Michael, ‘Maun’. Today, it is known as ‘Mannin’, ‘Vannin’ or ‘Ellan Vannin’, the island of Man. Those of a more romantic inclination, however, will opt for the view that the name refers to a Celtic sea god, Manannan, the equivalent of the Roman sea god, Neptune, or the Greek, Poseidon.

Location and general information

An island in the Irish Sea, situated mid-way between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the Isle of Man has a land mass of some 572 sq km (221 sq miles) and measures, at its extremities, 52km (32 1/3 miles) by 22km (13 2/3miles). Geographically it is part of the British Isles, a dependency of the British crown, but not part of the United Kingdom. The capital is Douglas, and other towns of size are Ramsey, Peel and Castletown. Government of the island is through the 24 representatives of the House of Keys and a nine-member legislative council, which together make up the Court of Tynwald (the oldest surviving parliamentary body in continuous existence in the world), passing laws subject to the royal assent. Laws passed at Westminster only affect the island if adopted by Tynwald.

The principal industries are light engineering, agriculture, fishing, tourism, banking and insurance. The island, which has a population of 76,315 (2001), produces its own coins and notes in UK currency denominations, and while UK money can be used on the island, Manx notes are not always readily accepted in the UK. The language is English, though there is a true Manx language, closer to Scottish than Irish Gaelic, which almost died out last century but which has increased in popularity recently. Today, Manx Gaelic is spoken by 2.2 per cent of the total population, a figure which rises to 6.5 per cent in the north of the island.

What the island lacks in size it makes up for in its variety of scenery, which reflects almost every type of landscape found elsewhere in the British Isles, from open moorland to thickly wooded glens, sandy beaches to bare mountain tops. The principal rivers are the Santon, the Silver Burn, the Neb-Thenass, the Sulby and the Dhoo and Glass (ie Douglas). Within the 160km (99 miles) of coastline lies a central range of mountains and hills running north-easterly/south-westerly, from which well-defined valleys descend to cliffs and sheltered bays. In the north of the island the landscape is flat and crossed by slow-moving rivers and streams that debouche onto long sandy beaches. Cutting obliquely across the island, generally at right angles to the main axis, is a central valley with Peel at its western end and Douglas at its eastern.

The watershed, or water-parting, which follows the north-east/south-west axis has long been important as the fundamental line of separation of the island into the Northside and the Southside – though this is not the division used in this book, which settles for the much more prosaic

division based on maps used during research. Traditionally, Northside has included the ‘sheadings’ (districts) of Glenfaba, Michael and Ayre, while Southside embraced Garff, Middle and Rushen sheadings. Changes in 1796 modified the original pattern by making Northside include Michael, Ayre and Garff, and Southside, Glenfaba, Rushen and Middle – a more geographically accurate division.

History and culture

The earliest evidence for man’s settlement on the island comes from the mesolithic period, a time when, quite probably, the island still formed part of the British ‘mainland’. By neolithic times (about 4000–4500 years ago), Man was an island, and its people living around the coastal plains in areas that were covered by predominantly oak woodlands.

During the Bronze Age (c 2000 BC), trade in gold ornaments and bronze artefacts extended across Europe, and the Isle of Man clearly played a part in this trade. Towards the end of this period, the climate changed noticeably and for a while the development of the island slowed down, only regaining momentum with the development of Christianity. This was a time when the Romans populated much of Britain, though they never occupied Man, in spite of the probability that they must have passed close to it en route with supplies for the garrison manning Hadrian’s Wall.

Close contact with Man and the Atlantic coast of Britain continued after the Romans had retreated. During this time, between the 5th and 8th centuries, it is probable that the Isle of Man featured in the itineraries of many Christian missionaries. St Bridget, St Ninian, St Patrick, St Columba and St Cuthbert all figure in church dedications on the island, so it is not too fanciful to suppose that they must have arrived here at some time during their lifetimes.

The scene altered significantly with the conquest of the island by Vikings. This brought about many changes in ethnic make-up, religion and cultural identity. Although pagan at the outset, the Norse quickly succumbed to the influence of Christianity and this, in turn, fostered the propagation of a unique blend of Celtic and Norse influences. The most notable survivor from this period is the Norse annual open-air assembly, the thing, at which new laws were announced and disputes settled. In the Norse language, the place for a meeting was a vollr, hence Thing-vollr, has become Tynwald, the island’s unique focus of government.

During this Scandinavian period the Isle of Man became the capital of an island realm – the Kingdom of the Isles – that embraced all the Hebrides, ruled by a Manx king subordinate to Norwegian sovereignty, with its headquarters on St Patrick’s Isle, today linked to Peel by a causeway. In a religious context, this became known as Ecclesia Sodorensis, a separate diocese, its name based on the Norse for Man and the Hebrides (‘the Southern Isles’). In 1266, the Hebrides were ceded to Scotland, heralding the political break-up of the Kingdom of the Isles, but the religious ties continued for much longer and, though long since severed, there is a reminder of this past regime in the title of the Manx bishop of Sodor and Man.

For over 100 years sovereignty of the Isle of Man was disputed between the English and the Scots, with the former ultimately gaining control in 1405 when sovereignty was granted to Sir John Stanley. His descendants – Earls of Derby and Dukes of Atholl – ruled Man for over 300 years, bringing a period of consolidation during which the island became increasingly isolated. This enabled the development of its own form of government, language and personal names. Trade was not encouraged, indeed strictly regulated, and visitors were kept away. The language of the people was Manx – though the well-to-do and government officials spoke English. Castletown was the capital of the island and the place of the lord’s residence, finally being displaced in favour of Douglas only in 1869.

During the 17th century conditions started to change rather radically as ‘the running trade’ – smuggling – took hold. Man’s strategic position, helped by its low custom duties, made it ideal for this form of activity which grew to such proportions that by the 18th century it became necessary for the British government to ‘take control’ by introducing the Revesting and Mischief acts in 1765. These effectively meant that sovereignty of the island was once more vested in the Crown, and smuggling was curtailed.

The ‘Revestment’ was a humiliation and an economic disaster for the Manx people, for although Tynwald still remained, it could pass no laws costing money because the customs duties were diverted to the British government. This situation continued until 1866, when the Manx customs revenue was transferred back to the island’s revenue, but with the stipulation that ultimate control over spending should rest with the British Treasury. This situation was only repealed in 1958, since when the island has had the freedom to conduct its own affairs.