THE ISLE OF MAN,
its History, Physical, Ecclesiastical Civil and Legendary,

PAGE

Dedication

Prefaces

Subscribers

Ancient legend of the Isle of Man — allegorical of its early history. — The interest which may be excited by the study of the physical history of a country. — General statement of the physical changes which have passed over the Isle of Man. — Geology not a mere speculative science, but an enunciation of established facts — First view of the Isle of Man. — Erroneous impression as to its size ; how produced. — Its varying appearance as presented at different points of the compass. — This variety produced by the varied action of certain physical causes — The great natural agents which have modified the crust of the earth. — The records of the Palirozoic period in the Isle of Man. — Great gap between it and the Tertiary as there developed. — The glacial epoch. — The more recent physical changes and present character of the Island

1

Douglas Bay — Panorama on entering it. — The past and present condition of the town. — Rambles in its neighbourhood — to Baldwin, Kirk Braddan, the Nunnery

12

Road from Douglas to Castletown. — Port Soderic. — Beautiful scenery. — Natural caves. — Intrusive greenstone. — Axis of elevation — Transport of boulders. — Barrows and Cromlechs. — Action of drift-ice and icebergs. — The ancient condition of the Isle of Man as a chain of smaller islands. — Santon-burn, Ballalona, Fairies

22

The Sheading of Rushen. — General view of the southern area of the island. — The Eye of the Calf. — Spanish Head. — Port Erin. — Port St. Mary. — Ballasalla. — Rushen Abbey. — Castle Rushen. — King William’s College. — Langness. — The great natural features of this Sheading. — Ellipsoidal hills of the boulder formation. — Great drift-gravel platform. — Valleys of denudation. — Estuary deposits. — Notice of the agriculture of the island. — limits on drainage

32

Lucian’s dialogues. — The physical constitution of Man. — The old Abbey-bridge — Monks and mills. — The Abbey of Rushen. — Ancient tripartite division of insular tithes. — Present mis-application of the Abbey-third. — The Abbot stone of Rushen. — The Creggins Hill. — Drift-gravel platform. — Skybright. — Malew Church. — Recent changes in the level of the land

42

The ancient Castle of Rushen — The ramparts, the moat, the glacis, the keep — Well in the drift-gravel. — The Derby family. — Bishop Wilson — View from the castle walls- — The town — The old chapel and clock-room — Legend of the Black Lady. — Hango Hill. — Limestone blocks in the boulder clay. — William Dhone. — Skeletons. — King William’s College. — Ancient foundation. — Advice of the Earl of Derby to his son — Bishop Barrow. — The Isle of Man an ancient seat of learning

58

Castletown Bay. — The Scraans. — The race-course — Sir Isaac Newton — Measures of time and space — The measure of a man. — The former extent of the drift-gravel. — Time occupied in its erosion and in the formation of the Irish Sea. — Consideration of time arising from the composition of a gravel bed. — The circuit oL angness. — Trap-dykes, Bosses, Natural arches — Round tower. — Porphyry. — St. Michael’s Isle. — Ruined oratory. — The old fort

77

The port of Derbyhaven — Its great natural advantages. — Singularly embraces in its circuit every rock and soil in the island. — The battle-field of Ronaldsway. — Great events of the thirteenth century. — The Scottish conquest. — Richard Mandeville, the Irish freebooter. — The lower limestone fossils of Ronaldsway. — Skillicore bosses — Great disturbance at Coshnahawin. — Valley of Santon-burn. — M’Culloch in error

96

View from the Brough. — Varying composition of the pleistocene marls. — Return to Castletown. — Notice of recent raised beaches at various points along the coast. — Remarkable undulations of the limestone beds at the Stack of Scarlet caused by the protrusion of basaltic rocks. — Glacial striations, groovings and indentations — Mud glaciers not solving the phaenomena. — Recent action of littoral ice at Cape Blomidon in the Bay of Fundy affording a clue to the true solution. — Probable gradual sinking of this area at the beginning of the glacial period

112

The trap rocks of Scarlet. — Evidences of successive volcanic eruptions — Great thickness of trappean beds — Fossils of the trap-tuff. — The Posidonian schist interposed in it. — Probable extent and duration of the black marble quarries. — The economy of their working. — The Poolvash limestone. — Great abundance in it of the fossils of the Lower Scar limestone of Yorkshire. — Pleistocene beds at Strandhall. — Singular stalactitic concretions

122

Strandhall. — Submerged forest. — Has the land gone down or the sea come up ? — The great fault. — Denudations. — Kentraugh. — The Giants’ Quoiting-stones. — The Runic Cross. — Port St. Mary. — Perwick Bay. — Coast scenery. — Spaloret and the Chasms — The Samphire-gatherers. — Spanish Head. — Rumpy cats. — The Calf Islet and Cow Harbour. — The city of the Conies. — Bushel’s house. — Boss of gravel in the Calf of Man. — Icebergs again. — Diluvium. — The legend of Kitter and the sword Macbum

139

Port Erin. — St. Catherine’s Well. — Brada Head and Copper Mine. — View from Grammah. — Fairy Hill, Fleshwick Bay. — Manx peasantry, cabins, carranes, and Sunday blankets. — Origin of the names Lezayre and Arbory. — The Friary. — Upper limit of the boulder-clay. — Grenaby.St. Mark’s. — The Black Fort and Sir Walter Scott. — Granite blocks and Goddard Crovân’s Stone. — Structure of granite. — Bubble of South Barrule. — Ascent of the mountain. — Evidence of great cataclysmal action. — Strike of parallel mountain-chains. — Mines and Minerals. — Slieauwhallin. — Witchcraft. Tynwald Mount. — Ancient ceremonies

164

Peel — The Castle. — The Round Tower. — The Cathedral. — The Crypt. — Duchess of Gloucester — Thomas Earl of Warwick. — The Guard-room. — The Moddey Dhoo. — Scenery about Peel. — Glen Helen. — The Rennass Waterfall — Glen Darragh. — St. Trinian’s Chapel. — Coast-road from Peel to Kirk Michael. — Geological features. — Glen Willan. — Kirk Michael. — Bishop Wilson. — Discipline of the Manx Church

187

Bishop’s Court. — The Grounds. — The Chapel. — Orry’s Head. — Probable continuation of limestone series in the north of the Island. — Formation of the Curragh. — Ballaugh~Jurby. — Megaceros marl-pits. — Use of marl. — Overthrown ancient — Snaefell. — The Bride Hills. — Admiral Thurot. — The Ayre. — Point Cranstal. — Grand development of Boulder series. — Ramsey. — Ballure Glen. — Sky Hill. — Port-le-Voillen. Kirk Maughold. — The Holy Well. — Vision of Gil Colum. — The Dhoon granite. — Laxey. — Orry’s Cairn. — Cloven Stones. — Return to Douglas

207

Lithological character of the Isle of Man. — Granite Bubbles. — Great extent of schistose formations. — The Isle of Man cx-isting as such in the Devonian period. — No disturbance between the Old Red conglomerate and Carboniferous lime-stone. — The lower and upper Limestone series. — Eruption of Trap rocks and interpolation in Carboniferous beds. — Great gap between the Carboniferous and Glacial deposits. . — The Glacial epoch. — Subsidence and emergence of the Island. — Its present condition

237

A. On the name of the Isle of Man

255

B. The Civil History of the Island, including an account of the Customs, Revenue, Receipt and Expenditure,
with a Catalogue of Governors to the present time .

257

C. On the geographical position and extent of the Isle of Man, and its population at different periods

280

D. The Act of Settlement

284

E. Amount and distribution of the insular tithe

285

F. The Act of Surrender made by Reginald to the See of Rome

289

G. Account of James, seventh Earl of Derby, with a table of the genealogy of the house of Athol, so far as relates to the separation of the Isle of Man from the Derby Family

290

H. A detailed account of King William’s College, Castletown

300

I. On the percentage of lime in the boulder clay formation

305

K. Mines, minerals and quarries

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L. The Manx fisheries and the number of vessels of all kinds observed passing the Calf of Man and Point of Ayre in the year 1847

311

M. On the Manx language

315

N. The Life of Bishop Thomas Wilson

322

O. Discipline of the Manx Church

334