I've created a new website: manxmanorialroll.com which is devoted to early (mostly pre 1700) Manx records.

The motivation for this was my efforts to extend my own family tree back into a period when parish records and wills become less useful. (Most of the alternative sources discussed exist in some form into the 18th and 19th centuries, but are generally harder to use than the better known options.) My experience is that (with a little luck) is possible to get a fairly full picture of a family thoughout the 17th and at least the latter part of the 16th century.

The site attempts to describe the full range of available records and their context in some detail. There is a particular focus on property records (eg Composition Books, Liber Vast) since these can be of great value to the genealogist. It pays less attention to parish records and wills which are well covered elsewhere.

Courtesy of Manx National Heritage the website contains example images of many of the document types.

There are extensive transcriptions of Kirk Michael property records. I've also included my rough index to about a thousand pre 1600 Manx wills. (These were not microfilmed and their existence does not appear to be well known.)

I've included links to the Manx genealogy sites which I'm aware of. Please let me know if I have missed (or misrepresented) any.

I'm aware that several people here have been looking at such records for much longer than I have. Any comments (eg noting mistakes or omissions) or suggestions would be welcome. Several people (Manx National Heritage and Michael Bridson) have already provided useful feedback.

Robert