Even the poorest of people tried to keep a cow to supply them with milk and butter. Selling the butter, along with eggs at market, was an important way that…
Ber Weyde

Ber Weyde
The Isle of Man is rich with people who love its history, folklore and traditions and our culture and language are thriving. Mannin Aboo! ❤️
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There were differences between women’s work on the crofts and small farms, and that on the large farms. On the small crofts women turned their hand to almost any job…
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We have two descriptions of Manx homes in the early 18th century, one from George Waldron, a customs officer and the other from Bishop Wilson. Bishop Wilson wrote in 1722…
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Eleanor Brennan (always known as Nelly), was born in Douglas in humble circumstances on 26 January 1792 some months after the death of her Irish father who was a boatswain…
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Rummaging through W Walter Gill’s ‘Manx Dialect Words & Phrases‘ (1934) this morning. I find it is one of those books whose example sentences in particular, can sometimes transport you…
- GaelgLanguageManx Life
Some Words from Cregeen’s Manks Language Dictionary
by Ber Weydeby Ber WeydeI found an old file I created some years ago where I had recorded some words and their meanings from Archibald Cregeen’s ‘A Dictionary of the Manks Language‘ (1835). Here…
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I am a true-born Manxman, an’ I like the good oul’ style, I’m nava in a hurry for it’s best to wait a while – It doesn’t do to be…
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Manx folklore is a curious mixture of that of various races. The population, based on a Gaelic and Pre-Celtic stock, but crossed with Scandanavian and tinged with the Lancashire and…
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Lovely time wandering around the fair field and as ever, meeting people (even after 30 years!) and having a good catch-up. Great array of stalls and I particularly liked the…
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Profanation on the Sabbath was one of the commonest offences and the breaches of the holy days were very varied in character. Men were presented for grinding snuff; for selling…
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⬥Did you avar heer the lek of yandhar? Whey, they say they’re are things talkin’ at Jimmy Juan Nan’s. ⟡Aw, well, well, man! I’m nor a bit surprised at that.…
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Farming has been in the blood of my ancestors for generations of Kellys and I descended from a long line of tenant farmers here on the Island. The good farmer…
- CreaturesFairy TalesFairy WorldHistoryLandscapeManx Life
Ned Quayle’s Story of the Fairy Pig
by Ber Weydeby Ber WeydeWhen I was a little boy, we lived over by Sloc. One day, when I was six years old, my mother and my grandmother went up the mountain to make…
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Lovely visit last week to the tholtans and well. Blue skies though a deceptively piercing wind. I could not tell if there was any water in the well though the…
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Drift Nets Herring and mackerel used to be caught entirely by drift nets. Drift nets drift in any direction that the tide may take them and act as barriers to…
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For thousands of years great shoals of herring entered the coastal waters of the Isle of Man. Probably there were herring fleets in the days of the Norse Kings of…
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Below is the final chapter from Lancashire Sketches (third edition) published by Edwin Waugh in 1869. It is quite lengthy but a delightful read. I do not know how accurate…
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‘Nan Wade’ was a well-known Manx wise woman whose gifts of healing and charming were held in high esteem and much sought after. She specialised in producing herbal remedies and…
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It is very hard for us to imagine homes without a gas or electric cooker and a fridge or freezer to keep food fresh. How did Manx people manage when…
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I was at a mini-workshop today at Cregneash and went for a walk around the village afterwards. The village was very quiet with no tourists, the odd jogger, a few…
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Bannaghtyn ec yn shass greiney souree shoh. Greetings/Blessings on this Summer Solstice.
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We first hear of the Quakers (aka Society of Friends) in Lord Fairfax’s time (1651-1660), when the governor prohibited anyone from receiving them into their houses, and the Quakers themselves…
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Together they sit in the eventide, A mongrel dog by his master’s side, Both of them bowed by the weight of years. A trembling hand strokes the silky ears; Brown…
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Most precious of all things in my childhood is the remembrance of my grandmother. Tall and stately even to the end, she had all the dignity of some high-bred dame…
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Some entries from A Vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx Dialect (1924) compiled by AW Moore with the co-operation of Sophia Morrison and Edmund Goodwin. MHINYAG [minjag] (Mx. minniag) – a pinch,…
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On the Isle of Man, the little red woman of Carraghan when travelling through the hills was sometimes followed by a goose. Though she was most often seen flitting about…
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This I have always longed to do The sea said, as the spring wind blew – There is a house on Gansey Bay; Would I carry her away! A little…
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New website for Isle of Man Wells – another of my interests. Many of the wells have been forgotten and neglected for years and I would like to highlight their…
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As Manx as the Hills is delighted to be an Environmental/Culture partner of UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man. Among the Isle of Man’s many special attributes is that it is…
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Happy Laa Luanys. It’s that time of the year when the bounty of the land and the strength of the summer days bring us a much needed harvest. May…