Ber Weyde

Thie Ferrishyn was the name sometimes given to what was supposed to have been the first house built in a village, its oldest house, because the fairies were fondest of …

Known as ‘the Hump’, this tumulus was recorded in 1930 as being 15 yards in diameter (13.7m) and 8 feet high (2.4m). It sits in a beautiful setting at Ballaleece …

You must know that once in every hundred years the Good People hold a fair on Midsummer Day.  When the gorse was bright as gold on all the Island hedges …

The Manx farmyard was known as ‘the Street’ and around it stood the stable, cowhouses, barn and pigsty. The ‘midden’ was never far from the stable and cowhouses and here …

I went to Patrick school where there were two classes – an Infants’ class and a Junior one.  I was in the Infants’ class together with about 20 other children …

This important well was visited by our ancestors for healing through the centuries but had disappeared for some years and in this instance, it probably occurred because people no longer …

Boaldyn is almost here and the Manx custom of annually replacing your Crosh Cuirn to protect your home is nearly upon us.  If you are a Christian perhaps you might …

In the Old Style calendar this day was celebrated on May 12 and was called Shenn Laa Boaldyn, Old May Day.  Boaldyn, known as ‘Bealtaine‘ in Ireland and ‘Bealltainn‘ in …

It is difficult for people living in today’s world, with the generous Social Services system, to imagine the hardships of earlier days among the population – let me tell you …

I love my little Isle, I do. Its purple heathers, its sea of blue. Its hills of green its mellow sands, its ancient bones its hallowed lands. © Bernadette Weyde; …

Not everybody liked the flowers of the country side. My father, like many farmers, regarded some wild flowers as weeds and detrimental to his crops so they had to be …

Published in 1913 in volume I of Mannin and contributed by ‘Cushag‘, this charm appears to have been collected from Kirk Bride: “The people was goin’ down to the sea …

THE BALLAHARRA STONES In 1971 whilst an extension to the Ballaharra Sandpit was taking place, a chambered tomb and an extensive cremation deposit was discovered.  Sadly the chamber had been …

St Adamnan’s Church, also known as “Lonan Old Church” and originally known in Manx as Keeill ny-Traie, or “the chapel by the shore”, is the former parish church of Lonan …

• TARROO = a bull. Magher yn Tharroo (field of the bull). • DOW = an ox. Ghaw-yn-Ghow (cove of the ox) • BOA (gen. pl. ny baa) = a …

There used to be a wise old woman living near St. John’s on the Isle of Man, who was making charms against witchcraft, and curing many things with herbs and …

The constitutional framework of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles set up by Godred Crovan in 1079 was seriously impaired by his grand-daughter’s husband Somerled, less than a century …

FREE DOWNLOADS from the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, University of Nottingham: ►Viking Myths & Rituals on the Isle of Man (2014) (Vol I) http://bit.ly/2MacYYt ►The Vikings …

“It was not with his sword he kept it, nor his arrow, nor his bow, but when he would see the ships coming, he hid it right round with a …

Phynodderee/Fenodyree is sometimes used as a proper name and sometimes as the name of a class of beings, the latter of which is a hairy little creature, a sort of …

  In 1927 PMC Kermode examined a tumulus on Smeale farm on the Isle of Man, which revealed the interesting fact that there had been a ship burial there, the …

Is it possible for us to guess what the Gaelic name of St John’s or Tynwald Hill on the Isle of Man was before the coming of the Norsemen? In …

The shoemakers and tailors and chance spinners used to go round on people’s houses, making things and spinning rolls of wool for the people. One time the tailor went to …

The first Ordnance Surveys of the Island were done c.1867-1870 and are rich in detail showing what treasures the Island had at that time like standing stones, tumuli, cairns, holy/healing/domestic …

The following is from the archived Gaelg website and will be of great interest to anyone who loves Gaelg.  The author is Phil Kelly, RBV who has done a tremendous …

Tynwald is the greatest monument that the Norsemen have left us.  The ceremony which is seen at Cronk y Keeill Eoin, ‘the Mound of the Church of St John,’ is …

In older times on the Isle of Man, for the majority of people marriage was ‘until death us do part.’ Divorce and separation were not lightly regarded nor much sought …

Anyone who delves into Manx history will, at some time, have come across reports of ancient sites and historical buildings destroyed through the purposeful and deliberate actions of some people. …

Rising water levels cut off the Isle of Man from the surrounding islands around 8000 BCE. Evidence suggests that colonisation of the island took place by sea some time before …

We can’t go back in time and change what’s happened but we can work on the present moment to make a better future. May all your present moments bring you …