Section 1 - Douglas Bay

8335 - The Bay Douglas, Isle of Man

c.1905

Original coloured. No JV logo and the number does not fall in any other group of Valentine Manx Views, possibly a borrowed view ?

Classic view of Douglas Bay from Douglas Head; post 1902 as Victoria Sea Terminal is complete. The four funnel paddle steamer is the Ben-my-chree broken up in 1906

The Harbour, Douglas

Taken from Douglas Bridge, North Quay is on the left, the Ben-my-chree is tied up along the tongue. Until the half-tide barrage was installed in 2001 this part of the harbour became a mudflat at low tide

Pierrots at Douglas

The posters announce them as the Palace Pierrots - the bandstand isthe one on the Harris Promenade, the wall to the rear is that of the Villa Marina grounds.

Victoria Street, Douglas

New street cut through old slum, leading to Victoria Terminal. 1887 Jubilee Clock just visible at left hand end of street.

Loch Promenade, South, Douglas

Classic shot of Promenade, Victoria Street is off the left, Jubilee Clock centre foreground with the 1870s Loch Promenade with its line of similar-style Boarding houses sweeping round the bay. The Villiers Hotel stands on the corner.

Around noon was the usual time for photographs as the bay runs north-south.

Cable car No. 75 is visible at its terminus, horse-tram No. 30 is heading back to Derby castle. The cable car carries an advert for the Snaefell Mountain Railway which also opened in August 1895. Another sign of the times is that three uniformed police, including one sergeant, are visible on the street!

[JV. 03566] - Loch Promenade, Douglas

(The image number is just about discernible but not 100% confident - there appears to be a cable car at the Victoria street terminus thus dating it post 1896)

Harris Promenade, Douglas

This ran from the end of Strand-street to Broadway - named after Samuel Harris, High Bailiff of Douglas. The junction with the newer Loch Promenade was at a dog-leg angle.

The Horse tram, open-toastrack #31 is seen passing the grounds of Villa Marina. The large hotel centre midground stands on the corner of Broadway

[JV. 46402] - Storm in Douglas Bay [Storm at Douglas]

probably 1904

Views of the waves breaking over Douglas seawall were a common subject for postcards - better waves can normally be found at the North end of the bay but the scenic Jubilee Clock location is generally chosen. This view like many others of the genre employed some artistic licence in exaggerating the sea and in this image, drawing in the figures to the right of the foreground woman in black, these figures are missing from the postcard I have (in Valentines photobrown 25-1 series)

The Sands at Douglas

It is difficult to imagine how the adults could remain comfortable with so many clothes on.

Victoria Pier, Douglas

1900 or 1901

The crowds are pouring off the two paddle steamers at Victoria Pier with a third about to depart. The ornate clock tower and roof of the Victoria terminal (fully opened 1902) are visible, however but the ornate veranada and the horse tramway extension onto the pier of 1902 are not there. The paddle steamer on the left with its flying bridge across the two paddle wheels and whose funnels do not appear to be in the IoMSPCo livery is almost certainly the Calais-Douvres of the Liverpool and Douglas Steamers Ltd, which for the period 1899 to Dec 1902 competed with the IoMSPCo. On the death of Mr S.W. Higginbottom, the founder of the company, the IoMSPCo bought the vessel and renamed it Mona III but scrapped it in 1909. A very similar, but later image is found as 17402 dating post 1902 - the sequence number and implied date would suit this image

Storm at Douglas

c. 1896 ?

Yet another storm scene, again it looks rather artificially enhanced - however the small covered vehicle is interesting - previous to the opening of the Upper Douglas Cable Car a horse drawn omnibus was tried but was not successful financially, as apparently customers did not like to see the horse labour so much dragging the bus up the steep Prospect Hill. It looks a little small for a public omnibus but it could be the private luggage van for the Villiers hotel

Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor
HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2000