Wow, what fresh start for all these brave people for taking part in the Southern New Years Day dips. Image 1 & 2 were taken on Chapel Beach in Port St Mary at about 12.45hrs and shows the guys and girls going in and quickly coming out, images 3, 4, 5 and 6 were taken at around 13.30hrs in Port St Mary Inner Harbour, again with the dippers going in and quickly coming back out, believe me it was freezing just watching these guys! The images were all captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Click on any of the images for a larger view! Happy New Year to all of my Manxscenes viewers 🙂
Molly Carrooins Cottage – The Butt in Onchan
Close to the Wetlands and St Peters church in Onchan is Molly Carrooins cottage which was in fact not built as a cottage but as a weaving shed which was converted to a cottage around 1800 when a chimney stack was added to the outside of the gable wall, it then later became the home of the village washerwoman. This tiny-whitewashed cottage, which is probably one of the oldest buildings in the village, has now been fully restored to give a taste of true village tradition, and is sometimes open to the public. A big thank you to Architectural Historian and Captain of Onchan Parish, Mr Peter Kelly for all his continued advice and support with Manxscenes.com. The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Click on the image for a larger view!
St Ninian’s Church Douglas
St Ninian’s Church Douglas
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 Remains of Crofters Cottages – Sulby
High up in the hills above the Sulby Valley at an area known as Slieaumonagh, which is roughly between Snaefell Mountain and Slieau Managh Mountain on the track to Block Eairy reservoir lies the remains of these beautiful Manx Crofters cottages, there must be approximately eight derelict stone cottages up there, which must really have been a small village! I am interested to learn more about these derelict cottages, please drop me a mail via my contact page or feel free to write a comment on this page regarding this subject if you can help. The images were all captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Click on the images for a larger view!
Hunt The Wren – St Stephen’s Day Manx Tradition (Boxing Day)
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…
Douglas Head Lighthouse
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. Click on the image for a larger view!
Super Yacht Amaryllis – Victoria Pier Douglas
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. Click on the images for a larger view!
Reflections on Douglas Beach
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. Click on the image for a larger view!
One of the oldest buildings in Douglas
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. Click on the image for a larger view!
St Marks Church – Kirk Malew
St Marks Church – Kirk Malew
Situated in the Parish of Kirk Malew this quaint little Church was built in 1772 and is attached to the parish Church of Kirk Malew. This Church that was built to accommodate about 200 people and was intended to provide a more convenient Chapel of Ease together with a parish school for those from the outlying mountainous districts! This image was captured on my Nikon D80 SLR with a Nikon 18-135 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens at 22mm, converted into sepia to give a “Ye olde World” look and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Click on the image for a larger view!