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

,40 Guide to ilte Isle of Man.gregation consists chiefly of the dAvellcrs in the immediateneighbourhood, and fishermen. It has been proposed toremove the edifice, for the purpose of effecting local improvements,and to erect a larger church on a more suitablesite ;but the opposition to the pi'oject, arising from attachmentto the old church, has, as yet, saved it.The romantic, but extremely inappropriate name, FairyGround, is given to a passage leading from the quay, acluster of narrow streets and alleys. Near the market-placeare the Royal, the British, Ecilfenis, and the York hotels.The most important thoroughfare of the old town is DukeiStreet, a narrow but very busy street communicating Avithand crossing the new Victoria Street. Many old-establishedand well-supplied shops are in Duke Street. In Lord Street,near it, Professor Forbes was born ;and beyond VictoriaStreet is Wellington Street, in which are the Theatre Royaland the large Wellington Hall and the Primitive MethodistChapel.In Fort Street, another narrow thoroughfare of the oldtoAvn, taking its name from the fort which stood on therock facing the foundation of the Victoria Pier (see p. 28),is the Isle of Man General Ilosjntal and Dispensary, a valuableinstitution supported by voluntary contributions, afact which visitors may as well remember. In Fort Street,too, is—St, Barnabas Church,erected in 1832, by subscriptions raised in England, and intendedespecially for the poorer inhabitants of the town, thosite being given on condition that five hundred free sittingsshould be reserved. It is very well attended. The towerand spire, 140 feet high, form a conspicuous object from thebay.The handsome new Victoria Street, as we have alreadynoted, cut through one of the most densely packed portionsof the old town, and we are therefore prepared to find, aswe pass up the broad thoroughfai-e from the Pier to ProspectHill, til at there are narrow busy streets, bearing the mark otantiquity, on the right hand or on the left. The most notableof these is Strand Strat, running behind and parallel to theLoch Promenade. Bazaars, provision shops, Iruiterers, fishmongers,wine merchants, and confectioners abound herebut the side-walks are very nan-ow, and the roadway alsovery narrow, and paved with cobbles, is as much a footpathas that which is supposed more correctly to deserve the name.From the centre of Strand Street, a broad opening, the Central