Ber Weyde

Rather unexpectedly both the second and third Wonders are associated traditionally with the parish of Onchan. Castle Rushen claims within its walls a well which rises and falls with the …

A Blessing on Ellan Vannin from a Scottish Gael Ellan Vannin, bannaght ort – Er dagh ooilley thie as cooyrt, Er dagh ooilley fer as ben, Er dagh ooilley bab …

In the Isle of Man, white quartz pebbles were put into Bronze Age graves and this continued up to the 17th century. If rubbed together, even under water, they give …

Glencrutchery, in the parish of Conchan on the Isle of Man, is the site of a Keeill and Burial Ground. Graves have been found and traces of cremation, showing that …

There are three cairns, the top two are very obvious with their quartz stones on top, but there is a third lower cairn which is just a green patch. The …

The third Wonder, the stone which moved at night and always returned to its chosen spot, is no longer in Onchan, but there are people still living in the village …

To show you how nearly every person has a nick-name on the Isle of Man, a story is told of a Peel Coroner (legal official) who summoned four men in …

On the Isle of Man, the Keimagh is a spirit supposed to haunt the stiles of graveyards and to guard the sacred resting places of the dead. (source: photo by …

At a place near Peel, about sixty years ago (1850s), there was a young man came by his death, as many thought, through foul play. A certain house and people …

The three moons in the fall of the year would be called: Re-Hollys Mooar yn Ouyr, the Harvest Moon to ripen corn; Re-Hollys mooar my Cabbil, The Great Moonshine Horse, …

There are many fishermen here to this day that declare they have seen the Fairy Herring Fleet lying before their nets, with their lights upon the water and their buoys. …

It is said that an heiress of Eary Cushlin had the misfortune to be a mother without being married, and to hide her shame the child was done away with, …

On Dalby mountain the old Manx people used to put their ears to the earth at ‘Sheean ny Feaynid’ (the Sounds of Infinity), to hear sounds which were like murmurs. …

This is earth from a spot where three land boundaries (ooir ny tree cagleeyn) meet which was sprinkled on a person afflicted with the evil eye. It was considered one …

In the rugged matrix of George Quarrie’s uncollected verses lurks a rite used in connection with a Well on Kionlough. “A young man has been found lying unconscious, and cannot …

In many divinations, the Dark Powers are expected to transmit their verdict or message through certain materials which, by their magical associations, are peculiarly fit for the purpose: ashes which …

To keep the home fires burning… In the Isle of Man the element takes on a two-sided significance. By fire the Island was discovered for men’s use and misuse, and …

Ye horses all, who may pass by This spot where rest my bones, Behold my head, which once was high, Now bleaching ‘mongst these stones.I was a horse of note …

The Manx fishermen, when out on the sea, used to call the merman ‘yn guilley beg‘ (the little boy). This was his ‘haaf‘, or sea name, by which alone he …

They’ve took me li’l boy – me li’l Johnny – What for did they take a li’l chile? When the sun gives a glint through the winders I’m thinkin’ I’m …

Have yer seen our li’l Billy, Miss Cannan? Aw! I’ll bet the young dirt’s on the shore With his bes’ clo’es an’ shoes an’ all on him! My! My! but …

Yis! I was sayin’ to Mrs Crowe theer this mornin’, That things isn’ a bit what they were; For in MY young days all of us childher Had to say …

I heard a voice that called me to the mountains Last night when darkness dropped across the sea, And crimson fire sprayed from the twilight fountains Fell over me. So …

I was down alone in the Moaney, Nobody else was near, When my name was goin’ a’callin’ Low an’ sof an’ clear. None was I seein’ aroun’ me, Never a …

It was the time that Saint Patrick was coming on horseback to Mann, over the sea from Ireland. When he drew near to the land, Manannan Mac y Leirr, that …

Oran (aka Odhrán or Odran) preceded Saint Columba and is a descendant of Conall Gulban a 5th century Irish King who founded the kingdom of Tír Chonaill. His death is …

The purifying virtue of fire was often used to destroy the malignant power present in a dead or dying animal, and so prevent further misfortune, and to discover the person …

A Manx wedding is one of the traditional social occasions of which the memory has not been allowed to die on the Island. Life is not now always recognisably Manx, …

We know that at the time of the Roman invasion the whole of the British Isles was occupied by three distinct races; first, that pre-Aryan race, usually called Iberian, whose …

There was once an old woman living in Laxey Valley that had a wonderful queer goat. White she was, with curving horns at her and amber eyes. There wasn’t another …