[from Yn Lioar Manninagh Vol 1 p148/150]

EXCURSION TO SLOC.

(From The Isle of Man Times, September 15, 1888.)

Many persons in the Isle of Man are totally unacquainted with name, or even the situation, of the place called Sloc, to which an excursion of the members of this Society was arranged for Thursday last, and consquently considerable interest was manifested by many of those who proceeded on the excursion to see and to get to know something about this comparatively obscure place. It had been arranged that members from North were to travel to St. John’s by rail, and then drive to Sloc, while the members from Douglas and its vicinity travelled by train to Castletown, and proceeded in cars to the same rendezvous. The drive from Castletown exceedingly pleasant, the weather being all that could be desired. traps proceeded along the shore road from Castletown to the Ballabeg no then along the Port Erin road as far as the Ballakilpherick Chapel, where the road to the right of that building was taken leading direct to Sloc which, it should be stated, lies to the south of Cronk.ny-Irree-laa, and is not very far from Port Erin. The party arrived about half-past twelve o’clock and were soon joined by the Ramsey contingent, when, as far as we can learn, the following ladies and gentlemen were present :—Mr. J. M. Jeffcott (High-Bailiff of Castletown), Mr. F. M. Ross, J.P. ; Mr. G. Drinkwater, Rev. B. Browne (Vicar of Rushen), Mr. A. W. Moore, H.K. ; the Attorney General (Sir James Gell), Colonel Anderson (Receiver-General), Mr. C. Leece, Miss Brearey, Miss Fleming, Miss Roney, Mr. W. Quayle, Profess Rhys, Miss Annie Gell, Miss Mabel Marsh, Mr. E. G. Tooker, Mr and Mrs. A. Roberts, Mrs. Boardman, Dr. Tellett, Mr. W. Garnett of Strathallan Manor, Chester (delegate from the Chester Antiquarian Society) ; Miss Edith Quayle, Mr. J. C. Crellin, H.K. ; the Misses Crellin, Miss Anderson, Rev. J. G. Williams (Vicar of German), Rev S. N. Harrison, Miss Gell, and Miss O’Donnell. Permission havi been obtained from the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, and from the Crown tenants of Cronk-ny-arrey-laa to excavate among the foundations of what are supposed to be ancient huts, men were set to work to do so at one spot, it being anticipated that some ancient implements or domestic utensils might be discovered ; but although the men worked during the grreater portion of the day nothing was found. Meanwhile, the party having partaken of luncheon, they proceeded to explore the place, which, for grandeur of scenery and lovely views of sea and rock, can scarcely be surpassed in this Island From one elevation Fleshwick Bay can be seen, lying many hundreds of feet below where the exploring party were standing, the ground down to the seashore, all sound about Sloc, being most steep and dangerous. Looking across country more to the south, and behind Port Erin headlands, could he seen the full outline of the south coast, while, turning again to the western side of Sloc, and climbing to the highest of the hills there, could be seen the beautiful village of Dalby, with Peel Hill showing up clearly in the distance, even the tower known as Corrin’s Folly being distinctly visible. From this point also was shown the spot which is said to contain the graves of some ancient kings, about half-way down a precipitous declivity to the shore, hut what particular kings these were, none of the party appeared to know accurately. At all events, everyone agreed that the magnificent views of land and sea which were obtained from almost any part of this hitherto practically unknown place, and the splendid bracing air, were sufficient to repay them for any trouble they might have had in reaching it. During the afternoon a sort of informal meeting was held on one of the slopes, when the High-Bailiff of Castletown delivered the following brief address

Ladies and gentlemen,—The mountain on which we are assembled is Cronk-yn-arrey-laa i.e. , the hill of the watch by day. At a period when the Island was constantly subject to invasions by Scandinavian sea-kings, it was necessary that a careful look-out for the arrival of their war-ships should be kept. This was kept, both by day and by night, in certain elevatedpositions. One of such positions was the summit of Cronk-ny-arrey-laa.

The timely discovery of approaching ships enabled the inhabitants to provide against invaders, and to drive the native herds and flocks into places of concealment. We have probably such a place in the large enclosure on the top of South Baroole. There can be little doubt that this was a hiding-place to which the natives repaired with their flocks in times of danger. Hiding-places were seemingly numerous in the Island. Cooil—hiding-Place—forms a syllable in many local names ; thus, Cooil-vane—white hiding-place ; Cooil-injil—low hiding-place ; &c. This hollow or depression of the mountain is called Sloc, and was formerly the site of an ancient hut village. The huts were of a very primitive character, as is shown by the existing remains. They were circular, of small size, and were built of sods or turf, strengthened by stones in their foundation. The roofs were, probably, of a bee-hive form, composed, perhaps, of slates or of scrahs, as thin pieces of turf were called, and overlapping each other. They were, perhaps, thatched with heather or rushes. It is impossible to guess the age of these relics. That they are of great antiquity is certain. The name Sloc is not a Manx name, but a Gaelig or Erse name. There is every reason to believe that this was the name of the locality when the huts were inhabited. In the Highland Scotch or Irish tongue, in which the word Sloc is still retained, it means a pit, a den, a hollow. There is in the Manx dialect the word slogh, which is doubtless the Manx form of Sloc. The word slogh has, however, never been substituted for the name Sloc. I am assured by old natives of the Island that this locality is never called slogh. The word Sloc is certainly an older word than the Manx dialectic word slogh. Sloc possibly existed before the Manx dialect was formed. When the old Erse or Gaelig was spoken in this Island, and pronounced as it was in Ireland and Scotland, the name Sloc was, perhaps, applied to the site of this ancient hamlet.

An interest attaches to this locality from the names of some other neighbouring cliffs, Baare Mooar, big top ; Beel Oaie-ny-Geaye, mouth of the face the wind ; Gob-ny-Veinney, beak of the pinnacle ; are weird poetic appellations given to the surrounding crags in remote times. The hut and other remains have acquired the name Clagh-yn-daa-hoit, stone of the two settings The Scard Bog, immediately below where we are standing, and through which a stream flows, doubtless supplied the ancient inhabitants of this solitude with water. The name Scard, I believe, denotes a place distant from the surrounding land. Still further down is Arrysteen, which deny its name from Gaèlig, and a Danish word, and which means "the watch stone"—the stone where watch was kept. Yet still lower down is Colby which, I believe, is a Scandinavian word, and which means the village on the hill.—Professor Rhys remarked that the question of water seemed to have been a matter of difficulty in the history of these places on the tops of hills, for instance in Wales, there were a number of hollows on the tops of the hills, but there did not seem to any chance of water being obtained there, so that the people could not have lived in them for any length of time. He believed they must have used them to send their cattle to for a day or so, because if the people had go themselves, they could not have stood any length of siege without water. Then, again, if their enemies had cleared the plains, they, in their turn could not remain in those places without water. Mr. Jeffcott had mentioned that there was an enclosure on the top of Barrule. That, he believed, was about 5 or 6 acres in extent, and that would hold all their cattle.—Colonel Anderson said there was one in Derbyshire almost exactly like the one on Barrule.

[for some reason the report used 'Cronk-yn-arrey-lhaa' rather than Cronk-ny-arrey-lhaa - the name has been silently corrected throughout]