Ber Weyde

This photograph shows a large flat wheel rim made of cleft ash with hand shaped oak spokes. The table of the wheel is made of cleft oak and the four …

She walks, white-gowned, amid the glades of fir Hushed by the music of the breeze among The fretted leaves, one bird her chorister, At hour of evensong.   Her robin …

In the case of animals ailing, herbs had to be boiled in some of their milk. This was supposed to produce wonderful results, described as follows by a man living …

“Themselves” upon the mountains. “Themselves” that haunt the plain, That sparkle through the fountains And laugh among the rain. Greeting! Greeting! Singing in the rain, Laughing in the mountains Greet …

They tell you that Castle Rushen on the Isle of Man was at first inhabited by fairies and afterwards by giants, who continued in possession of it till the days …

Old people say that in the beginning there were three elements – Water, Air and Fire. Water, they say, was the first to be made and will be the last …

A Völva or Vǫlva is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism and a recurring motif in Norse mythology. The Old Norse word vǫlva means “wand carrier” or “carrier of a …

(Little Manannan, son of Leir) Little Manannan was the son of Leirr, he was the first that ever had her; but as I can best conceive, he himself was a …

Look my belovèd at the waving grass, forest and field, and garden herbage mute; bow to the winds and let them pass, but to the sunbeams open flower and fruit. …

The type of large circular homestead occupied by a Manx Chieftan and his family in the 2nd Century CE, while the Romans were in Britain. The building was about 90 …

The animal most intimately allied with magic in the Isle of Man is the hare, whose shape is often assumed by Witches than any other. A local lady wrote to …

A correspondent sent to the Manchester Mercury the prices of the following articles on the Isle of Man, dated June 26th, 1773: • Beef – 3d. and 3½d. per lb …

The following came out of a casual conversation some months after the event… The occasion was the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and after taking …

It was said of Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, patron saint of the Mylecharaines, Craines and Karrans, one of the great Irish saints whose keeills and devotees were to be found on …

“It’s a long time ago now,” says Kirry; “Aw ay, chile – a long time ago, When I wasn’ much bigger till you are, An’ bein’ reared by me Gran’mother …

“With regard to lighting arrangements, an original natural lamp used here until quite recently was the “Tanrogan,” or large scallop, the hollow upper shell of which made a natural saucer …

Once upon a time a young man was coming home from Derbyhaven. He was staying in Glashen, and was coming up past Ballahick, when he heard great singing and dancing …

During the Stanley regime, Castle Rushen with its garrison was the main centre of the Island’s administration and the most famous of them. James, the 7th, Earl of Derby, lived …

Tradition states that before there were any attorneys, the people of Colby used to adjust their differences over the dead body of a wren; each party would pluck some of …

There was a time in the olden days when the cormorant and the bat took counsel together to do something for the poor as they had compassion on them, and …

No person could practice the Black Art or any necromancy on any person who had in his possession a four-leaf clover. (source: Wm. Cashen’s Manx Folklore (1912); photo)

There is throughout the island an actual dread regarding publicity of weddings. Though all the neighbours may be aware of little details leading up to the ceremony, households directly interested …

When the robin will not sing in churchyard trees, the place is said to be haunted. (source: photo; text from an article in the Hartford Times, 1892)

The last sod-house on the Island is said to have been one which stood on Skyhill and was inhabited by a family named Ribbat (Redpath); it was built on the …

The ancient legal penalty of Deodand, well known in England, by which an animal or object causing a death was confiscated and became the king’s property, was enforced in the …

Not so many years ago a farmer’s son in the parish of Andreas, was taken away by the Fairies and was lost for four years. One day, as his two …

A narrow 13th century packhorse double-arched bridge paved with quartz cobbles spans the Silverburn immediately north of Rushen Abbey and adjacent to the mill race. Crossag is from ‘crosh veg’ …

Lag-ny-Boirey (Manx for hollow of lamentation/botheration) is the site of a cluster of Bronze Age hut dwellings at Mull Hill.  During excavations in 1896 a Bronze Age clay model of …

Can you guess the name of the village? “A place where ladies love to go, A vowel add – neither ‘i’ nor ‘o’, And what we do in summer eat …

Our land has fallen from her age of pride And put her old divinity aside; She is not now as in those storied days When a strange beauty lit familiar …