m - Isle of Man Today

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Another example of why the summers were
so much hotter in great grandmother’s day.
Fully clothed in black they sat on the beach.
In the background the shops at the bottom of
Broadway offering haircuts, shaving and
photographs. Behind, the gable of the first house in
Clarence Terrace supports a huge advertisement
for Maxwell’s boarding house. The bunting and the
flags on the lampstandards makes me wonder if this
was at the time of the 1902 Coronation parade. Here
is a real chance to study the clothing, not to mention
the pram of the turn of the last century.
(MNH /pic/817)
Amove to Ramsey and
South Shore and that
corner known as “the
nigger beach” on account of the
blacked up minstrels. Another
pram of the cart variety in the
foreground between the two
girls. The most interesting
thing to me is the inclusion of a
harp between the banjos. Later
a small stage with cover was
provided for the minstrels.
(MNH/pic/818)
To change the time scale a
little I have selected this
view in 1951 and entered in
the Isle of Man Publicity Board
annual photograph competition
by E. Eivrys Jones of Old
Colwyn. It was entitled
‘Whitewashed Farm’ and was
taken off the road from St John’s
to Glen Helen. Can you identify
the farm and how about the man?
(MNH/pic/3455)
Ramsey during the Great Snow of
1895 is a magic lantern slide given
to the Manx Museum in 1957 by Sam
Bennet of Ramsey. The snow is the
greatest the Island had known, within a 24
hour period as many inches of snow fell
and then during the night the wind got up
causing deep drifts which imprisoned
people in their houses across the
countryside. The view shows Waterloo
Road which was laid out following a report
recommending its construction which was
written in 1835. On the right is Waterloo
Road Chapel which was built for the
Wesleyan Methodists during 1845. The first
service was held on Tynwald Day in 1846
with preachers from Londonderry,
Congleton and Dublin as well as from the
nearby Scotch Church which is now
Quayle’s Hall. On the left is ’The Britannia’
which was built in 1847 for Dr Clucas and
remained a doctor’s house until 1909 when it
was licensed in the name of John Nelson. It
was extended on the Peel Street side to
provide extra dining room accommodation.
(MNH/pic/3437)
Another view taken during the Great Snow
of 1895; this shows soldiers from the
barracks at Castletown engaged in
digging a clear route from Castletown to
Malew church. The glass slide was from the
collection of Canon Spicer and was given to the
Manx Museum library in 1952. A contemporary
account of the snow tells that the whole of the
Southern Railway line from Douglas to Port
Erin was closed as the cuttings were deep and
so full of snow that clearing them was an
impossibility. Between Ballasalla and
Castletown the drifts were 14 feet high.
(MNH/pic/3454)