Ber Weyde

Odd numbers belong to the gods above, even numbers to the gods below. The latter seem to have the chief say in most men’s lives and deaths, nevertheless, the number …

Between Fleshwick Bay and Bradda Head there is a ‘Castle’ Rock, called Cashtal Rackley, or Reckley, and at its outside is a cave, Ghaw Ving, so named on account of …

If we turn back the pages of maritime history during the past couple of centuries or so we will find that Manx skippers and sailors played a notable part in …

The following is taken from an archived cache of the old gaelg.iofm.net site, copies of which are held on archive.org and is a selection of Manx House Names as well …

On Christmas Eve, called in Manx, “Oie’l Verrey,” the Eve of Mary, a singular and interesting custom is observed, which attracts large numbers to the parish church for the purpose …

Update 21/12/19: It seems there is a query and this may not be a high tide marker after all as someone has said it is an OS datum marker so …

20+ Manx Gaelic Christmas and New Year greetings, toasts and phrases with pronunciation guides.   Some are suitable for a wedding toast too.  Enjoy!🎄   ♦ NOLLICK (pron. ‘nullig’) = Christmas/Yule …

There’s a biting wind today whistling and moaning outside Jurby Church but inside it’s lovely and warm with the delightful combined aromas of cakes and candles!  The Christmas Fayre is …

The longest story in the Chronicles of Mann (created c.1262) tells of the wonderful miracle performed by virtue of the staff of Saint Maughold, the patron saint of the parish …

The bulk of our place-names according to Marstrander (Norwegian linguist and Prof. of Celtic Studies in Oslo) belong to the period subsequent to Norse times. This raises a debatable point; …

This dramatic oil painting, ‘The Wreck of the St George‘ illustrates a most epic rescue at sea. On Friday November 19, 1830, under the command of Lieutenant John Tudor R.N., …

In the smuggling days of old, one of the Radcliffes of Gordon in Patrick, the heir, was engaged in the trade. In one of his journeys to Ireland he married …

Old Manx people will tell you, even today, that the oldest Manx families all originated with the ‘Seven Mollys’ – that is the names beginning with ‘Myle.’ But like many …

Perhaps the most primitive form of sorcery practiced in the Island was ‘the Curse’, used as much by enthusiastic amateurs as by the notorious practitioners and always dreaded by those …

On the coast of Lonan, about a mile and a half eastward of Laxey is Struan-y-Granghie, a little streamlet that comes tumbling over high cliffs of rock before it enters …

Signed from the road, St Patrick’s Chair stands in a field called Magher y Chiarn (field of the Lord) and is a collection of stones with some set vertically, two …

King Orry’s Grave is in two parts, one behind a house and the other across the road and up the hill. Both are the remains of Neolithic tombs about 5,000 …

The 148 first names and 37 family names are taken from  Fockleyr Gaelg-Baarl / Dictionary Manx-English (1993) by Phil Kelly which is still available online on the archived gaelg.iofm.net site.  …

I can hear the fairies calling from the meadows far away, Where the daffodils are gleaming through a veil of misty grey, In the magic of the morning, when the …

Between Bow Veg and Glen Wither, on the coast north of The Sound, is a place called Lhiondaig Phollinag, or the Mermaids’ Green or Garden, and the tradition is that …

It was commonly believed on the Isle of Man, as in many other places, that a witch could take the form of a hare and stories of hares turning into …

The chapel on St Michael’s Isle on the Isle of Man is an example of the type of building erected by the Norse-Celtic Christian community probably in the earlier part …

Cross no. 138 at Old Kirk Braddan on the Isle of Man. A fragment of a cross having a design of two diagonal rings interlaced, decorated with notches and flourishes …

Close to Orrisdale, this monument is a Bronze Age burial mound and easy to access via a public footpath though it is on a working farm with livestock. Having crossed …

The Monks’ Bridge is a narrow 12th century packhorse double-arched bridge paved with quartz cobbles which spans the Silverburn river immediately north of Rushen Abbey and adjacent to the mill …

The Drinking Dragon at the southeast corner of the Calf of Man. Known also as ‘the Burroo’ which is Manx for ‘the Berg’ (as in iceberg). Some people say it …

It was lovely at Niarbyl this weekend where we went to look at the seawall boulder with cup-marks. There are reported to be 22 cup-marks in three rows and the …

“In memory of our ancestors, who, through long ages, came to this well and here, in simple faith, made prayers and vows with humble offerings.”  So this became a holy …

Although the Isle of Man was caught by the wave of persecution which swept over Europe after the publication of the Bull of Pope Innocent VIII against witchcraft in 1468 …

Built on a site which has been used for religious purposes since the earliest times, Old Kirk Braddan was rebuilt in 1774 and was never re-ordered in Victorian times.  It …