Dreembeary

Another old ruin

 

Monday 21st November, 2011

We started from the Glen Helen car park and walked up through Eairy Beg plantation.  There were five of us (seven if you count the dogs) because Trevor's daughter came with us this morning.  About half the way up the hill we passed the old farmhouse, which gave the plantation its name.  It must have had a view down the glen before the trees were planted but now it is completely hidden amongst the conifers.  It wasn't as dark in the plantation as it is in summer because the larches have lost their leaves.

 

  

 

The main purpose of this walk was to take Dorothy to see the ruins of Dreembeary (or Dreeymbeary) - the remains of a small stone building in the middle of nowhere.  Dorothy loves taking photographs of ruins and Dreembeary must be one of the few on the Island that she hadn't visited.  It isn't easy to find but we had seen it from across the valley on a previous walk.  I wish I could find out a bit about the history of the ruin because it is rather unusual.  The openings in the front of the building were faced with old bricks which were set into the stone, and white quartz boulders were mixed in with the usual Manx slate. 

 

 

It is not a conventional design for a dwelling, with a wide opening at the back and four openings for doors or possibly windows in the front.  Also there is no evidence of a hearth or chimney at the one end.  It is impossible to see the construction of the other end because there is so much fallen stone.

 

 

    The lines of slate laid out behind the house didn't look as though they are collapsed dry stone walls.  I wondered whether the building had been partly demolished with the intention of reclaiming the materials and the slate had been laid out many years ago - ready to be transported away - and is still waiting for someone to fetch it.  One of the best known Manx sayings is Traa dy Liooar, which means "time enough".

 

    From Dreembeary we walked down towards the Rhenass River.  Cattle had been driven up the footpath and we had to pick our way through churned up mud.  We turned off the footpath near Ballasayle and took an illegal route across some fields and climbed over a fence into Glen Helen.  I don't like trespassing but there were no crops or animals in the fields - and they were a safe distance from the farmhouse . . . and any irate farmers.  We headed for an old hexagonal ruin in the glen - probably a summerhouse - but Dorothy stopped on the bridge to take photographs of the Blaber river below. 

 

 

    After having a short break for snacks at the remains of the "summerhouse", we continued along a path near the top of the Glen.  I had never walked along it before - didn't even know that it existed - as we usually take the more popular paths down in the valley alongside the river.  The "new" path took us back to the car park where Tim dried the dogs and wiped off the worst of the mud before allowing them in the car.