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

102 Guide to the Me of 2fan.given to numerous very small structures, some of them, indeed,little more than caves with doors, which are scattered overthe island. The limited size seems to prohibit the idea thatthey Tvere in any sense of the word chapels, but they wereprobably places of burial. "Where possible, a wall of roughstones, of the same height as the structure in the centre, surroundedit. "We cannot attempt to explain the origin of thoword.St. Trinian's Church (for illustration, see page 43) wasevidently built as a place of worship. It is about 70 feetlong and 25 broad. Tbe material employed in the buildingthe common clay flagstone of the locality, and the dressingsisare of red sandstone, probably obtained from Peel. Therewere an east window of two lights, and a west Avindow witha turret for two bells above it. The general style warrantsthe supposition that the church was erected about the endof the thirteenth century. Trees grow in the area partlyenclosed by the ruined walls, and it is difllcult at first to believethat the structure was so large as tho careful measurementsquoted show it to have been. Manxmen would not beManxmen if they did not attribute the absence of a roof tosome supernatural cause. A mischievous evil spii-it, with aname as ugly as his face and figure, and they were hideous,amused himself by throwing down the roof as fast as it wasput on, and so scared the builders that they abandoned theattempt. Local historians who do not believe implicity inthe tricks of evil spirits, conjecture that the completion of thochurch was interfered with by the confiscation of the baronyin the political troubles of the time. But what is the valueof historical conjecture when weighed against a legend whichgeneration after generation have believed in ?"Who was Trinian ? is a question, respecting the answerto which there is much difference of opinion. It is said(but, then, so many things are said) that he was a Pictishbishop. It is also said that the name is a corruption of St.Ringan, who appears in Scotland as St. Ninian, to Avhomwas dedicated a priory at "Whithorne, in Galloway. Theprior was a baron of Man (as several other dignified ecclesiasticsAvere), holding property there ;and this little islandchurch may have been intended as a sort of chapel of easeto the Scotch priory. One of the traditions of the placeis that the church was built in fulfilment of a vow madeduring a storm at sea.About a mile past St. Trinian's Church, on the same sideof the road, is a field known as the Round Meadow, in