(51) Glen Maye Mill

Extracted from UK National Archives plan MPE 1/1064 "Barony of Bangor and Saball" dated 1826

The above plan shows just one mill - however Cringle's Mill, on a site next to the bridge over the Glen Moij river on the south side of the road, thus within the Barony of Bangol & Sabal is known to have been rebuilt in 1834 and apparently was operational some years prior to this rebuilding, is not shown. I suspect the two buildings shown on the north side of the road adjacent to the bridge to be the Mill house and Sayle's mill though this was last explicitly mentioned as a Mill in 1803.

The mills on the Glen Moij river were threatened in 1888 when the Peel Water Company applied to Tynwald for powers to extract a significant amount of water from the Glen Rushen stream - a committee was established to consider this request which throws some light on the then present state of the mills.

(51a) Great or Big Mill

Taking the Big or Great Mill at the east end of the village first

From 1868 O/S Plan IX.14 - SC 237793

The 1515 manorial roll notes the "mill of Glenmoy this year in tenure of Jenken McCaly and Thomas Kerdar rent 12s 2d;by 1600 the three owners were noted as Finlo Quaill (4s share), Philip Crosse and Ralf Killy (he had just been entered as son of Gilchreest McKilly decd. the last 2 would appear to be equally concerned.- in 1611 Phillip Crosse's share passed to Thomas Raydcliff and in 1616 Finlo's share passed, on his decease, to son Thomas Quaill and in 1638 Wm Killy likewise acquired his father Hugh's share; thus in 1639 this mill, still at rent 12s 2d was held by Thomas Quayle, Thomas Ratcliffe and Willm Killy.

Jumping forward to the 1704 composition book, which conveniently makes reference to the situation in 1643 we find the three shares, each of 4s and the third part of 2d of the Great Mill Glenmoij, were held by Ellen Ratcliffe (for that part compounded for by Henry Ratcliffe), Wm Quaile (for the part held by Thomas Quail and Ann his mother)and Wm Killy (grandson of the 1643 Wm Killy)

The term 'great mill' would imply that there was at least one further mill.

The 1760 Lib Assed has under 12s 2d rent Tho Martin, Cornelius Quayle + Wm Killey (all 4s + 3rd pt 2d) with a change May 1767 - this change was to bring a fourth partner into the group to help cover the considerable cost of enlarging and modernising the mill - a 'floor' mill is generally used to describe a horizontal mill whereas a wheel mill implies a vertical wheel allowing considerably more power.

dated 2 Jan 1764;Thomas Martin + wife Esther als Gell, Wm Killey + wife Elizabeth als Christian and Cornelius Quayle sell for £30 to Capt Thos Radcliffe a quarter share in our miln at Glanmoij in Kk Patrick especially to cover costs of erecting our Miln commonly called the Big Miln at present a floor milln and for making the sd Milln a wheel milln and putting a slate roof thereon and all other things necessary towards the rebuilding + finding all materials necessary to fix sd miln to grinding which we estimate to be £30 - also a quarter of the crofts thereunto belonging (lords rent 3s 0.5d plus 10d hogg rent);witt Wm Quilliam x, Patrick Sayle x
Annexed note dated 22 Oct 1764 that Capt Thomas Radcliffe hath full liberty at his own expence to build a flax mill either within the walls or adjoyning the same.

NSS May 1793 6

[cancelled]dated 16 Jul 1792;Thomas Martin(Reaby beg) + wife Esther Martin als Gell settle on eldest son + heir Henry Martin our whole estate of Reaby beg together with the 4th part of Glanmoiy Miln with the croft and house or houses together with a field called Mongan split into two fields as it is enclosed with the houses thereon also a certain meadow part of Ballacasnaghin + another field called Troilja-ny-Liey (pt of Troilja qtrland) - the 3rd pt + 3rd part of plough etc in present possn and after 4yrs to enjoy half with rest at decease of longest liver - Henry to pay £120 (£40 next hollandtide, £30 after 4yrs + rest on possn) - Thomas + wife agree to clear mortgages except the £20 Henry + Thomas took; Witt Wm Cottier, Patrick Vondy; Annexed cancellation dated 7 Apr 1818 - John + Thomas Martin ack from brother Henry £50 bequeathed in by will of mother dated 12 Dec 1815 - sd £50 secured on the field Mongan settled on Henry by deed dated 16 Jul 1792 and allow sd deed to be cancelled [see SSS May 1818 5]

SSS Oct 1800 1

[also entered in German]dated 1 Apl 1800;Poyntz Stewart(Antrim Ireland) + wife Jane als Radcliffe sell for £300(Brit) to James Quirk(Knockaloe) several parcels in Patrick + German - intack 6d rent part of Arrassie mountain Patrick, eighth part Glanmoij mill (Patrick), half the house adj to Vicarial Glebe Patrick, half parcel in patrick called Gobbrack (now occupied by - Cowle as tenant), Peel Hill in Patrick (now in possession of John Sewell as tenant), housestead or old house called Knaigle's house in Peel adj James Quirk on south + southwest, Hugh Cubbon on west, street on north + east, another parcel in Peel called Lime Kiln + small garden adj the lane leading towards Peel River on south, Henry Crelling + Charles Killey on east, sd James Quirk and Hugh Cubbon on north and sd James Quirk on southwest, also a parcel of intack adj prev premises as part of them extending towards the lake and river, plus my half of intack called Beary Mountain in German now in possession of Wm Crane which several lands were purchased by Thomas Radcliffe of Knockaloe prev husband of Jane Stewart;witt John Kennedy, John Clark.

CTD Eas 1805 22

SSS May 1818 5

[damaged]dated 9 Nov 1814;Henry Martin + wife Catherine als Quay settle on son + heir Thomas Martin all the right we may have to to the 4th part of our estate known as Reaby beg reserving for themselves their part of a certain mill - also whatsoever time my sd father + mother possess the other half of sd estate wch is at present held by Esther Martin widow that son Thomas at liberty to enjoy other 4th pt of estate - Thomas to pay £50 to exors of sd Esther on possn of half; Witt John Quayle x, Wm Lace [see NSS May 1793 6]

In 1819 Thomas Martin (grand son of the Thomas Martin in 1766 document) sold his share of mill to his mother to help pay for a new and larger? wheel.:

SSS May 1821 6

dated 16 Jun 1819;Thomas Martin(Kk Patrick) + wife Ann sell for £100(British) to Catharine Martin als Quay sell our half to a certain mill known as the Big Mill in Glenmaye - Thomas paying half the cost of a big wheel now to be erected upon sd mill and in lieu of wch Catharine to pay Thomas half of the profits of sd mill for 4yrs; Witt Thos Graves, John Quirk

However it would appear that Thomas soon decided that there was little profit in the mill or farm, his mother agreed to quit any interest and in 1828 they sold their part:

NSS May 1829 3 dated 15 Jun 1828;Thomas Martin (Kk Patrick) + wife Ann and mother Catharine Martin sell for £60(British) to Edward Gawne(Mount Gawne, Rushen) our right to that water corn mill at Glenmoy known as Mullen moar together with 1/4 of the the miller's croft houses etc being one qtr thereof held in conjuction with Thomas Moore, William Quayle and Patrick Cain also one fourth part owners of the sd mill; Witt W Hinley, John Crellin

Edward Gawne quickly flipped this share of the mill to Thomas Moore thus giving him a half share

SSS May 1829 4

dated 26 Nov 1828;Edward Gawne(Mount Gawne, Rushen) sells for £60(British) to Thomas Moore(Glenmay, Kk Patrick) my title into that water corn mill situate at Glen May known as Mwyllin mooar being a qtr of the sd mill + the whole of the lands, houses etc belonging in conjuction with Wm Quayle + Patrick Cain part owners; Witt John Connal, Samuel Keggen [see SSS May 1829 3]

Registered Deed Apr 1849 #4

Moore's gift to son-in-law Wm Crellin was however lost 12 years later by Wm Crellin's insolvency - the £15 bid for the 4th part would not indicate a flourishing concern.

Registered Deed May 1870 #1

dated 10 Dec 1892;H B Noble(Villa Marina), Wm Quayle(farmer,Ballamoor, Patk), Thomas Cringle(miller, Glenmaye) and Thomas Kelly(farmer, Glenmaye) sell for £180 to Peel Waterworks Company that mill + mill race known as Glen Maye Little Mill [sic] lately in occupation of Henry Quayle bounded on east [sic] by Glenmaye river, on south + SW by property of Henry Quayle + Wm Gell and on north by road leading from high road past mill to river. Witt John Charles Quayle

Whether the mill has ceased by 1893 is not clear - the Water company bought the mill for its water rights which it needed to provide drinking water for Peel - it advertised the letting of the Mill starting in April 1893 and the adverts ran for a year.

Isle of Man Times, 15th April 1893

The annual directors' report noted in the newspapers mentions two writedowns of the mill's value in the years to 1900 so possibly no tenant was found.

(51b) Cringle's Mill (in Barony of Bangor and Sabal)

From 1868 O/S Plan IX.14 - SC 235795
The marked property on the right of the road is the mill house - that on left is Cringle's mill

The little mill above the waterfall is Cringle's mill just to the south of the bridge - demolished in 1935 in order to widen the road. There is now a cleared rectangular plot (minus a corner under the road) along the river. As shown in the above plan of the Barony, this Mill is within the Barony of Bangor and Sabal and thus would not appear in Lib Assed as it would not pay Lords rent tho elsewhere the Lord has claimed a rent on the water supply (eg the Abbey Mill in Kk German). The water supply to this mill is somewhat confusing, it would appear to be fed by a long leat that runs under the road near the Mill house at the bridge but starts as a stream that originates to the South East of The Sound and not connected with the river which lying entirely in the Barony may explain the absence of a Lords rent; however it appears that the small dam (? post 1765) south of the mill house overflows into the leat before flowing in a culvert under the road. In a court case in 1887, Thomas Cringle, then miller, "of an ancient mill known as Glenmaye Corn-mill, and which is driven by the water of Glenmaye river and a small tributary known as the Dalby stream" sued Henry Quayle who in 1879 had erected a water threshing mill on that small tributary stream and finding the water flow insufficient had erected dams to the hindrance of the running of Cringle's mill.

c.1930 looking S.E. The mill house on the left - the corner of Cringle's Mill on right.

c.1900 looking N.W.

The history of this mill is just as confused as its water supply. There is the final entry in a list dated 14 Jan 1678/9 of "An account of what money is owinge by the tennants in Bangor and Saball in the Isle of Manne, formerly due for their fines but now to be payd as followeth" found in the Book of the Barony

Apart from a mention in a 1747 indenture of a Water Mill in Dalby (see section 51d) held by an unidentified Danold Knickell, which could be this mill, there would appear to be no further record of this mill until at a Barony Court held at Peel on the 14th October 1756 "John Taubman Steward of the Barony of Bangor & Saball to a Jury impanelled, who are required by way of presentment to make answer thereto" gave five questions - the fourth of which was

However there does not appear to be any answer to this or to any of the other questions contained in the Book of the Barony.

Around the start of the 19th century the Knickell family name changed to Cringle (various spelling of both names are found) - the case reported in Advocates Notebook taken from Lib. Plit., 1st July 1834. of WM. QUAYLE and Wm. QUAYLE, Jun. v. WM. CRINGLE.

Declaration filed stating that pltff's, their ancestors, and tenants, had, from time immemorial, enjoyed an easement, with a footpath to the high-road, adjoining their own premises. That the deft. being proprietor of a mill and premises adjoining, encroached upon, and committed damage to pltff's premises, by sinking a pit for the mill wheel, which shook their gable wall, and did other damage to the pltff's.

The evidence taken in this case indicates that this was originally a 'little mill' (ie an horizontal mill.) which was demolished in January 1833 and a new, somewhat larger mill with a 'midling' size wheel built in its place and the leat altered to run along its west side instead of under the gable facing the high road. Much of the evidence was concerned with the blockage of a footpath by a newly cut leat to drive the wheel of the newly built mill. This new cut was for some months left as an open stream thus making the footpath which passed between the Mill and the Kiln unusable though an alternative rpath was available. By Easter Monday 1834 the stream was reported as covered and as good as the previous path. Possibly the more serious complaint was that the mill wheel in its pit was left open with the obvious danger to children or others in Wm Quayle's house, the door of which opened onto an easement a couple of yards from the wheel. Likewise the Quayle's cow house also opened onto the same small easement - a corner of the gable wall of which was built upon a rock forming part of the side to the wheel pit and it was feared that cutting the new leat have undermined the ffoundations of this gable wall.

There was a brief mention of a previous law case when one of the witnesses Thomas Moore, co-owner of a mill less than a quarter mile away (?the Great Mill) petitioned to force the tenants of his mill to return away from Cringle's Mill.

This Wm Cringle would appear to be the 80year old tenant farmer of the surrounding quarterland farm of Ballachrink in Kirk Patrick; the 1843 tithe composition book indicates he was a tenant to a small part of Ballachrink then owned by a William Quayle. In the 1841 census he, a widower, is living in the same house as his son John Cringle whose son Thomas, then aged 1, would be found as a corn miller by the 1861 census, presumably in Cringle's mill.

Thomas Cringle in his evidence to the 1888 enquiry stated " I am one of the millers of this stream [referring to the Glen Moij river] , and own one-fourth of the top one. I have known the mills all my life, and worked them considerably over 20 years. We are able to keep them open winter and summer. We can barely, at times, keep them working. Sometimes in summer we have not half the quantity of water we require to do our work. If further water is taken out of the stream it will have a tendency to stop us. At times there is barely water to keep us going."

John Cringle inherited the property but at his death, Richard Cringle, the eldest brother to Thomas sold his half share of the Mill and Kiln to Henry Quayle

Registered deed Jan 1891 #2

The ownership of the other half is not mentioned, but in the 1887 lawsuit against Henry Quayle Thomas Cringle then miller at Cringle's mill stated he owned half and his brother the other half, but it would appear that Wm Quayle, to whom the grandfather Wm Cringle was tenant, had a quarter share as indicated in two receipts for inheritances following the death of a Wm Quayle

Registered deed Feb 1891 #6

Registered deed 1891 #7

Henry Quayle used his share of the mill as security

Registered deed Aug 1895 #3

The Peel City Guardian, 19th January 1935 reported under heading "Glenmaye Hill improvements":

(51c) Sayle's Mill

This mill is about 2.5km from Glen Maye village at some 400ft heigh. It seems rather isolated to be a successful mill. The Peel Water Company wished to place an extraction point for their supply above this mill - partly to gain the supply height needed but also because the approximate 1000acre catchment area was above any streams that fed the lead mines.

However, though named in the 1888 Tynwald Committee evidence the mill is not identified as such on the 1868 O/S Plan and the following is my own suggestion based on that evidence. The site would appear to be on the east side of today's Lhargan Plantation. The road, in 1868 a track, is the narow single track road that runs from Cross Vein mine, through Glen Dhoo into Glen Maye

O/S Plan XII.2 - SC 246785

From the 1868 it would appear to be fed via a high level leat carried across the Glen Moij river feeding a wheel on the north gable

NSS May 1738 4

dated 22 Feb 1737/8;Henry Sayle(Kk Patrick) + wife Christian als Callin sells for 18s to Capt Wm Cubbon(Marown) a parcel of Cottage [rent] called the Claddeen adj Henry Quirk on northwest + surrounding river of Glanmoij on both sides with liberty of turning river thru any part of sd Claddeen for benefit a miln intended to be erected plus a moiety of ground for a miln damn, winnowing places, headwires etc + pt field called the Reinn downwards from marks already set in presence of Thos Cain(Tottaby, Malew) + Finlo Quirk(Patk);witt Finlo Quirk x, Tho Cain;setting quest place 3d rent between parties

1728 Lib Assed has

1760 Lib Assed has Capt Wm Cubbon & Hen Saile for a new water corn miln on Glenmoij River rent 12d with changes Oct 1771 and May 1775

NSS May 1778 9

dated 24 Jul 1777,Capt William Cubbon(Marown) + wife Mary als Christian sell for £18 to Philip Sayle(Kk Patrick) half corn mill in Glen Rushen known as Sayle's miln rent 6d + parcels of cottage land one called Claddeen adj Thos Leece on Northwest side and surmounting the river on both sides; other parcel called the Reinn adj sd Claddeeen in lower end adj land of sd Philip Sayle in upper end situate nigh to sd miln rent 3d cottage - plus mill damm, winnowing places, headwires etc;witt John Kirmod, Thomas Clucas

Philip Sayle being son to Henry would have inherited Henry's half share from the initial partnership, now with the sale by Capt Cubbon, he now owns the whole mill.

NSM Oct 1804 1

This mortgage explains the 1816 Lib Assed entry for this mill

The Oct 1818 change was Henry Sayle's loss of all Glenrushen property by a coroner's sale

SSS Oct 1818 2

Thus the 1858 Lib Assed has for the Mill

Whether the corn mill was still operational is not clear as apart from the entry under Mill rents in Lib Assed, which merely copied the original descripton through 150 years, no deed post Philip Sayle's settlement on son Henry explicitly mentions the mill.

The 1888 plans drawn up by Daniel Cregeen Engineer to the Water Company shows the same area as the extract from the 1868 plan (and apparently based on it using the O/S field numbers). However it does not show the mill and race - the extraction point is about 1km futher down the river Both extracts have been rotated somewhat to line up more closely with the orientation of the O/S Plan

The water company wished to build a small reservoir close to the mill with the pipe running along the road to join its original pipe near Patrick church. Water is taken from above the Intake Weir, filtered and then carried in a 6" pipe. The small stream exiting approx mid right hand on plan is a feed to the old Beckwith Mine working - the extraction is above this point and above any other feeds to mining sites.

.

(51d) Threshing Mill on the Dalby Stream

According to the evidence given at the law suit brought by Thomas Cringle, then miller at, and with his brother co-owner of, Cringle's Mill, against Henry Sayle, miller at the 'Big' or Upper mill who had constructed a water driven threshing mill on his land along the Dalby Stream in 1870 and finding that the water supply from this stream was insufficient to run the mill had over the next 17 years constructed 3 dams (weirs) along the stream, the first made before the mill was finished; the second in 1880; and the last in January 1885, so as to dam the water sufficient to operate the threshing mill for a useful period of time. "It took 12 hours to fill the dams, and even then there was only sufficient water to run the mill for two hours. The mill had cost defendant £450". As these postdate the 1868 plan neither the mill nor the dams are shown on the plan, Cringle stated the nearst dam was some 600yards from his mill.

From 1868 O/S Plan IX.14 - SC 238795 - the road is that minor roar from Glenmaye through Doolish Cashen
Estimated position would be in the enclosure adjacent to the marked buildings
based on distance quoted by Thomas Cringle, the existance of a dam and the need for some access by road to the mill

Henry Quayle was miller and part owner of the 'Big' or Upper Mill which is a short distance to the North East - it is not clear for how long post the law suit the threshing mill continued in operation, Henry Sayle had given up the Big mill by 1893 after its sale to the Peel Water company. Thomas Cringle had erected an engine driven threshing mill at or near his mill.