Ward & Lock's descriptive and pictorial guide to the Isle of Man ...

84 Guide to the Isle of Man.Peel Castle carefully point out the steps from wliich Fenellajumped ; they might as well show the steps where tlie younglady kicked and screamed.Local tradition must, of course, have something to sayabout this Goddard Govan stone, in addition to what archaiologistsmay suggest as to its having been the memorial of aScandinavian king. Goddard was one of the giants whofavoured Mona by residing there in the darkness before thedawn of authentic history, and dwelt in a castle on the topof South Barrule. There are, as Vv^e have seen, traces ofextensive works on that summit, and if they do not representthe fortress in which tlie giant lived, we cannot help it.The legend says that, being unable to endure the tongue ofhis termagant wife, he turned her out of doors. " Afterdescending the mountain some distance, she turned roundand began to rate him so soundly at the full pitch of hervoice, that, in a rage, he seized on this huge granite block,and, hurling it at her with all his might, killed her on thespot." A large piece of this rock may still be seen near thedcaconage of St. Mark's Chapel, but the greater part isbroken into small pieces, and used in the erection of the house.As we have already said, geologists easily acconnt for thisand other huge boulders being met with in unlikely places.Near Ballasalla are the remains ofRushen Abboy.The old square tower and part of the refectory and dormitoriesare all that is left of a Cistercian monastery, famousin its day, and which was destined to be the last ecclesiasticalestablishment " dissolved," existing until the reign of Elizabeth.The ruins stand in the midst of a market- garden, andwhat remains of the old edifice is utilized as storerooms forfruit intended for the Liverpool market.It is a tradition of the island, that in 1098, Macmarus, theviceroy of Magnus, king of Norway, in tliis part of theisland, founded here a religious community, consisting ofan abbot and twelve monks, who were very ascetic in theirhabits, wearing "neither shoes, furs, nor linen," living bytheir labour, " with great mortification," and eating no fieshexcept when making journeys.A record more to be depended on than this tradition, theChronicon Munnkv, written by the monks of the abbey, givesthe date of the foundation as 1134, in wliich year King OlavoKleiuing gave to Ivo, or Ewan, abbot of Furnoss, in Lancashire," a portion of his lauds in Man, to found a monastery