Port Grenaugh

The eighth leg of the Raad ny Foillan - reminders of times long gone

14th September, 2009

 

   The outing started with a short panic on my part.  We had arranged to meet near the Manx Radio building on Douglas Head (to leave a car at the end of the walk) but, when we arrived, I found to my horror that two-hour disk parking had been enforced all the way up the road since our last visit to the area.  The side road to Manx Radio and the new apartments was even worse - with signs threatening clamping!  Luckily we discovered that there was space to park the car a few hundred yards further on, at the side of  the road near the entrance to Marine Drive.

 

    Our route started from Port Grenaugh, with our first reminder of the demise of the glory days of Manx tourism.  This followed the introduction of cheap flights from the mainland to Spain and other warmer holiday destinations after the second world war.  There used to be a tea garden at Port Grenaugh but it suffered the same fate as a lot of the other Manx country hotels and tearooms (which either burned down or fell into disuse) and the buildings were demolished.  An old postcard of Port Grenaugh shows at least two buildings on the flat area behind the old sea wall as well as well kept lawns.  By the time we moved to the Island all that remained was the crumbling foundations of the buildings among the weeds.

 

    The walk started with a short uphill climb to one of the best known promontory forts on the Island - Cronk ny Merriu (Hill of the Dead).  Cronk ny Merriu is built on a small area of flat land, high above the sea, with rocky cliffs below on two sides and the remains of a ditch and rampart which protected the fort from attack from the inland side.  It is thought that the defensive ditch and rampart are about two thousand years old.   

 

  The layout of the dwelling inside the fort is typically Norse so the building must be more recent.  When the site was excavated in 1950, traces of an earlier dwelling were found below the Viking building.  This photo shows Dorothy and Trevor, standing on the rampart of the promontory fort looking down at the remains of the Viking longhouse . . .

 

 

 

. . . and this is the view from the fort - looking down on Port Grenaugh bay.

 

 

 

    From Cronk ny Merriu, the path followed the top of the cliffs until we reached the area known as Pistol Castle.  There we had to turn inland and cross a couple of fields where some cattle were grazing.  Cattle can become quite aggressive with dogs, so I picked up Alexander and carried him under my arm - waving my stick at the inquisitive beasts.  They seemed to be friendly but I wasn't about to take any chances.

 

    After crossing the fields we climbed a stile and walked along a lane which eventually led to the Old Castletown Road.  We had to walk along this road for about a mile but at least there was less traffic than we endured last week on the New Castletown Road.  After this less than exciting bit of the walk, we reached the road leading back to the coast and Port Soderick.  We were able to leave the road before we reached the shore and walked through Port Soderick Glen.  We saw a notice explaining the recent colonisation of the Island by the speckled wood butterflies which claimed that Port Soderick Glen was the best place to see them - but we didn't see one single butterfly in the glen. 

 

 The beach at Port Soderick is deserted now but was crowded with day-trippers from Douglas during the height of the tourist period when it was linked with Douglas by an electric tram along the spectacular Marine Drive.   Trevor is standing outside the remaining boarded up buildings.  The restaurant and tearoom were still open when we first visited Port Soderick but are no longer in use. 

 

 

 

    There is a good article on the history of Port Soderick and some interesting early photographs at http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/gazateer/psdrk.htm 

 

    From the shore there was a steep climb up the old steps to the top of the Port Soderick Brooghs.  I counted nearly 150 steps and thought about the "good old days", over a hundred years ago, when we could have ridden up in style on an inclined tramway.  Then, for just 6d each, we could have taken the Douglas Southern Electric Tramway from the Port Soderick terminus to Douglas Head.  But those are past glories and the only way ahead was on foot. 

 

    I was also thinking that I would have to describe a completely butterfly-free walk when we came across a solitary speckled wood near the footpath along the top of the Brooghs which leads to Marine Drive.

 

    The views from Marine Drive are impressive because it winds around the cliffs, high above the sea.  There are occasional isolated coves far below and, as we passed them, Trevor would invariably say "I have been down there!" or "We climbed down there and swam in the sea!"   He has lived on the Island since he was a teenager and must have been an adventurous young man although he did admit that some of the climbs were frightening. 

 

 

 

   In one of the coves there was a reminder that the Irish Sea can be dangerous and should be respected when the gales are blowing.

 

 

 

    Marine Drive was originally built for the tramway but that closed in 1939 and after the war it was sold to the Manx government and was converted to a roadway in 1956.  The new road only remained open to traffic for twenty years before part of it was closed on safety grounds.  The rock strata are twisted and shattered and there is a danger of the unstable rocks falling onto the road from above . . .

 

 

 

. . . as well as the more serious danger of the road slipping down into the sea.  In one place the edge of the road has already gone and there is evidence of other less serious land slides  and plenty of sinister cracks in the tarmac.  The stone structure in the right hand lower corner of the photo is the remains of a support for a bridge on the original tramway.  It must have been a terrifying trip for anyone who didn't like heights. 

 

 

 

There is an old photograph of the Walberry bridge at this site  http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/transprt/mdrive/advert.htm  In one of my books there is also an amusing photograph of the opening of the tramway on 16 July 1896.  It shows an open-topped double decker tram, which looks very much like one of the horse trams still in use on Douglas Promenade.  The tram is packed with cheerful Victorian gents wearing top hats, bowlers and boaters.  I hope it was a calm day - otherwise some of that fine headgear probably ended up blowing into the sea.

 

    Our journey ended at the arches marking the entrance to Marine Drive from the Douglas Head end.