Douglas
This building at the northern end of Douglas Promenade houses Douglas Borough Council’s historic Horse Trams and the offices above have been converted into a conference facility and called “The Strathallan Suite”
The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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This beautiful Victorian Jail was built in 1831 to house 30 Prisoners that were all transferred from the existing Prison in Castle Rushen in Castletown, the building was designed by Manx architect James Cowle.
The Prison has been extended on a number of occasions to include further accommodation wings however In August 2008 this beautifully designed Victorian building was vacated and the staff and inmates were all transferred to the new Isle of Man Prison in Jurby which is now fully operational.
This type of architecture will probably never be seen again on the Isle of Man and is a genuine reason for it’s retention.
The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the image for a larger view!
Whilst out on a shout tonight and on my way home I stopped to grab an image of St George’s Church in Douglas whilst this beautiful building was lit up with sodium lights.
St George’s Church was completed in 1781 and is the oldest standing church in Douglas.
The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the image for a larger view!
It is very rare to see this school without one car parked in front of it, so I grabbed the opportunity today whilst the school is still closed for the Christmas/New Year period.
I am sure this image will bring back loads of good and bad memories to those pupils that attended it, it certainly does for me!
It is worth noting that this school that was completed in 1939 initially served as classrooms for young boys mostly aged 16 who had signed up with the Royal Navy for 12 years and they were a familiar site during this war period marching from their ship (H.M.S St George) to Ballakermeen School to learn the basic knowledge of signalling and telegraphy.
The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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Whilst out for a walk yesterday (28th Dec 2011) I could not help to capture this image of the church whilst the sun was out.
The church was constructed as a result of a bequest in the will of Henry Bloom Noble, his trustees provided land, at the junction of St Ninian’s Road and Ballaquayle Road, and money for the construction of this beautiful church which was completd in 1913 and consecrated as a parish church the following year.
The architect was W.D. Caroe and the church is constructed of local slate and its tower dominates the landscape and indeed the skyline of Douglas.
The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the image for a larger view!
The custom of ‘hunting the wren’ has long been an Isle of Man tradition, and is still kept alive each St Stephen’s Day.
It is thought that it is descended from Celtic mythology and the tradition may also have been influenced by Scandinavian settlers during the Viking invasions of the 8th and 10th centuries.
Historically, groups of young men known as ‘wren boys’ would hunt a wren and then tie the sacred bird to the top of a pole, decorated with holly sprigs and ribbons. With blackened faces, the group would sing at houses and receive for money, presents or food for their efforts. Those that gave money to the boys would receive a feather from the wren as thanks. The collected money was then used to host a village dance.
Superstitious Manx fishermen were known not to venture out to sea without having first secured a feather to ensure their safe return. Wrens’ feathers were also considered a general preservative against witchcraft.
The images were captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the images for a larger view!
This image of Douglas Head Lighthouse was captured just before the last of the winters day sun dissapeared.
Douglas Head Lighthouse was originally erected in 1832 and replaced by this Lighthouse in 1892 at a cost of £32,000 it stands 32m above sea level and the Lighthouse has now been automated and is now in private ownership.
Click these alternative links of Douglas Head Lighthouse 2 and Douglas Head Lighthouse 3 which I captured from another area in June 2011
The image was captured on my Nikon S3000 digital camera and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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This beautiful super yacht Amaryllis has been moored on the northern side of Victoria Pier in Douglas Harbour for the best part of a week now, so I could not resist grabbing a few piccies of her.
Built by Abeking & Rasmussen at Weser in Germany she is 78m (257′) long, steel hulled with an aluminium superstructure. Designed by London outfit Reymond Langton Ltd the Amaryllis can take 12 guests and 22 crew.
The Amaryllis is registered in GeorgeTown, Cayman Islands and is reported to cost an eye-watering £100m – Ouch!
The images were captured on my Nikon D80 SLR with a Nikon 18-135 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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Whilst out and about this afternoon for a walk on Douglas Beach, I spotted this image just as the sun popped through and cast some lovely reflections of the old and new apartments and remaining existing hotels on Queens Promenade.
The Castle at the top left of the image is the former Falcon Cliff Hotel which has been standing overlooking Douglas Bay since circa 1843 and is now office accommodation, click here for an image of the Falcon Cliff that I captured in 2004.
The image was captured on my Nikon S3000 digital camera and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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This building which is situated at No. 7 John Street in Douglas (behind Douglas Town Hall) is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Douglas.
The building for as long as I can remember has always been a restaurant and it used to be called Scotts Bistro but is now called Isola. The property is a registered listed building.
The images was captured on my Nikon D80 SLR with a Nikon 18-135 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens at 18mm and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
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This lovely old building stands on South Quay in Douglas right opposite the new lifting bridge.
The tower used to be the control tower for the former swing bridge where the bridge was hydraulically operated to swing it open.
Gas Works steps that lead from South Quay up to Fort William can also be seen to the left of the image.
The image was captured on my Nikon D80 SLR with a Nikon 18-135 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens at 22mm and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the image for a larger view!
All tied up – The two Steam Packet Vessels (The Flag Ship Ben My Chree and the Fast craft Manannan) seen here tied up in Douglas Harbour and unable to sail today (12th September 2011) because of the severe weather conditions in the Irish Sea due to the tail end of hurricane Katia.
The forecast today has given possible further disruptions for the next day or so also!
The image was captured on my Nikon D80 SLR with a Nikon 18-135 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens at 58mm and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5.
Click on the image for a larger view!
