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

Douglas. 29believed by somo antiquaries, on very slight evidence, tohave been erected by the Romans, and certainly of considerableantiquity. There Avas an underground dungeon, havingno entrance but a hole covered by a large stone ;and a localliistorian, possessed of vivid imagination and great capacity ofbelief, tells us that a nephew of Boadicea was here concealedby her, to save him from the fury of the Romans. If theunfortunate youth was shut up in such a dungeon, he wouldvery soon have ceased to be a trouble to the Romans, his kindaunt, "the British warrior queen," as Cowper styles her, oranybody else. The fort was removed when the pier wasconstructed.The large steamers from Liverpool and Barrow generallyland passengers at this pier, but occasionally, at high water,and especially in v/inter months, theOld Red Pier,constructed between 1793 and 1800, at a cost of £22,000, and520 feet long by 40 feet wide, is made available. At theextremity of this pier is a lighthouse.Another stone pier is of recent erection—the BatteryBreakwater (between which and the Victoria Pier smallsteam ferry-boats are continually crossing), so named fi-om asmall battery constructed near the foot of Douglas Head in1813, when it was thought on the Isle of Man, as elsewhere,that " Boney was coming." This breakwater, erected from theplans of Sir John Coode, C.E., protects the harbour, andenables vessels to anchor inside with safety during any stateof the weather. In 1857 a breakwater, formed of piles andrubble, Avas constructed, but was swept away in one night bythe sea, stirred to fury by a gale.Stretching along the bay from the entrance of the VictoriaPier is theLoch Promenade,so named from the late Lieutenant-Governor of the island, andone of the finest marine parades which any watering-placecan boast. The sea wall is formed of concrete blocks, andthe inside walls of pieces of rock set in Portland cement, thefillings in being entirely of rock. This promenade, nearlyhalf a mile long, is the fashionable resort of Douglas, andsome of the best hotels — (the Villiers, Belvedere (temperance),Afhol, Granville, Begcnt, and Falcon among them)—theMasonic Hall, and mansions where apartments can be had,are on it, the sea view making the houses especially attractivr.On the promenade are stands of cars and other carriages for