The site of an Iron Age Roundhouse. It survives as an almost circular earthwork with an average overall diameter of 25.0 metres which is set on marshy ground and heavily overgrown with fern. Though the fern makes field investigation difficult, the feature appears to be both by construction and by topographical situations a typical Roundhouse of circa 200 AD. The interior is raised above the exterior by 0.3 metres and around its circumference is a bank with an average width of 1.7 metres and average inner height of 0.2 metres. Outside the bank is a fragmentary berm average 3.0 metres wide and 0.3 metres high but no outer ditch could be traced in the reed covered ground. In the north the bank appears to split with the west portion swinging in towards the centre and the east portion swinging away from it thus creating a gap of 4.0 metres. This may be an entrance not shown on maps.
The Roundhouse is shown on the 1870 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map and named as The Buggane. This map shows a lake to the southwest side of the monument.
The site of a Bronze Age barrow which was examined in 1928 and produced a broken cinerary urn which is now kept in the Manx Museum. Mr E. Martin, a previous owner, provided information that when the highroad at this point was lowered, an urn with bones and ashes was found and reburied.
The location of a Bronze Age barrow, situated by the side of the highroad from Kirk Bride, opposite a farm entrance. It was examined in 1928 and confirmed to be of Bronze Age date, yielding a broken cinerary urn, as recorded in P.M.C. Kermode's 1930 List of Manx Antiquities.
The site of a Bronze Age barrow which was examined in 1928 and produced a broken cinerary urn which is now kept in the Manx Museum. It is a grass and gorse covered mound partly destroyed in the north by a road cutting and with a sheer retaining wall 1.4 m high in the east and south. The barrow mound has a maximum height of 3.1 metres and is 14.0 metres north to south by 9.0 metres east to west. Mr E. Martin, a previous owner, provided information that when the highroad at this point was lowered, an urn with bones and ashes was found and reburied.
The site of a post-medieval horse engine. The circular horsewalk is shown on the 1870 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map, located at the southeastern end of a building to the northern side of the farmyard. The building and the horsewalk circle are still visible on modern aerial photographs.
The Smelt Monument was built to commemorate Cornelius Smelt (1748-1832), who in 1805 became the first royally-appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man following the Revestment in 1765 which transferred control of the Isle of Man from the Duke of Atholl to the British Government.
The site of the Snaefell lead mine. The complex is shown on the 1870 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. This is a distinct working from the nearby Beinn y Phott Mine, despite the two sharing an almost identical map coordinate. The Great Snaefell Mine began serious working around 1856 on the eastern foot of Snaefell, about three miles north-west of Laxey village, and was originally an offshoot of the Great Laxey Mining Company, later passing through several reorganisations including the Great Snaefell Mining Company (formed 1871) and a re-registered Snaefell Mining Company (1883). Between 1870 and 1900 it produced roughly 4,567 tons of lead ore and 8,926 tons of zinc blende, worked from a single shaft eventually sunk to about 171 fathoms with eleven levels. On the night of 9-10 May 1897 a fire, believed to have started from a candle left burning near timber supports at the 130-fathom level, filled the lower workings with carbon monoxide after being fanned through an open ventilation door at the 74-fathom level; of the roughly 34 miners who went down for the early shift, 20 died of gas poisoning in what remains the worst mining disaster in Manx history. Recovery of the last body was not completed until 7 June 1897 because of persistent toxic gas, and mine captain John Kewley was recognised for his role in the rescue efforts. The mine finally closed in 1908 after a serious rockfall made further clearance uneconomic.
The site of the 19th century Snaefell lead mine complex situated near the head of Laxey Glen. This mine opened circa 1856 when the main shaft was sunk on the left bank of the eastern tributary of the Laxey River. This main shaft reached a depth of 171 fathoms in 1895. The mine continued operating into the early part of the 20th century. The present site has been much disturbed by the reworking of the 'Deads' by Metalliferous Holdings Ltd.
Snaefell (washing floor site SC408874), a Lead and Zinc mine at the head of the main Laxey valley, was an offshoot of the Great Laxey operation and subsequently independent. Its washing floors and complex system of multiple contour leats was several times re-modelled, the waterwheels and turbines being repositioned and augmented. A footpath comes down from the north, a branch of which runs from the Mountain Road at the north end of the Verandah and later splits to provide access to both the head of the Cornaa valley and the lower Laxey area. There is also pedestrian access up a long track from Agneash village.
From the two powder houses on the hillside above the main washing floor site, you can see the main leat. Although it has been cut by landslips it was wide enough to act as a dam. One capped shaft and a chimney survive, with one water-trough support downstream on it, on the right (west) stream bank opposite the main shaft. Most structures now obvious were left when Metalliferous Holdings Ltd. installed a ball crushing mill and modern flotation tanks when they were reworking the deads in the 1950s. There is an unidentified older stone building in the gully downstream and wooden water ducts sometimes erode from the recent waste dumps.
The main leat which supplied water to the Snaefell Lead Mine. From the two powder houses on the hillside above the main washing floor site, you can easily see the main leat. Although it has been cut by landslips it was wide enough to act as a dam.
The Snaefell Mountain Railway ends at the peak of Snaefell mountain. It is the only electric railway in the British Isles and has been in operation since 1895, running from Laxey to Snaefell, a distance of 5 miles (8 kilometres).
Prehistoric flint scatter.
A single worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Snuff the Wind by CH Cowley.
The name is locally used for the area surrounding the Cross Vein mine. In the absence of more precise details, the grid reference is that of the Cross Vein mine and is provided for indicative purposes only.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter, including a pressure-flaked Ronaldsway type Neolithic arrowhead. Circa 6 Mesolithic Heavy-blade type flakes found in the Snugborough area were also reported to Dr L.S. Garrad (PRN 2045.00).
The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter, including circa 6 Heavy-blade type flakes found in the Snugborough area and reported to Dr L.S. Garrad. A pressure-flaked Ronaldsway type Neolithic arrowhead was also found in the area (PRN 2045.10).
Bronze Age burial mound. This burial mound stands at the edge of a cultivated field. Agricultural activity has in the past encroached on its eastern side, but it still survives to a maximum diameter of 19m and is 1.5m high. Fragments of urns inverted over secondary burials have in the past been found near the top of the mound. Below these a stone cist was also found.
Prehistoric flint scatter.
A small quantity of worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Sour Close Stream by CH Cowley.
The stream drains from Knockaloe Moar, and in the absence of a more detailed description the grid reference relates to a point midway along its course from the main landholding to the River Neb, and is provided for indicative purposes only.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
