Medieval carved stone cross.
A carved stone (Manx Cross 018) was found loose at the chapel prior to 1910, when it was noted by the Manx Archaeological Survey.
Medieval carved stone cross.
A carved stone (Manx Cross 103) was recognised in use as the lintel above the window in the west wall of the 14th/15th century chapel in the late 19th century.
Medieval chapel. The present building includes masonry of two different periods. The east gable, and a short length of the adjacent north and south walls, are thought to be of 14th or 15th century style, incorporating characteristic detailing in mullions and jambs. A Norse cross (Manx Cross 103) was re-used as a lintel above the east window, and a piscina is built into the south wall. A depression outside the west gable suggests that the chapel would have been between 3 and 4m longer, measuring perhaps 10m overall.
Post medieval schoolroom. Investigation of the site by the Manx Archaeological Survey in 1910 showed that the existing building was of two phases.
The structure, which is orientated ENE-WSW, is roofless, and now measures 6.1 by 3.4m internally.
Although the east gable and a short length of the adjacent north and south walls are of 14th or 15th century date, the remainder apparently dates to around 1749, when the building was converted into a schoolroom. The masonry re-uses older stonework, but is bound together using a clay matrix rather than lime mortar.
The roofless remains of a medieval church dedicated to St Patrick, after whom the islet is named. The ruins stand just to the east of a round tower at the highest point of St Patrick's Isle. It may date to the 10th to 12th centuries AD.
It is thought that the church was also a cathedral and that it was contemporary with similar Irish cathedrals of 10th century date. The oldest parts of the building are contemporary with the adjacent Round Tower, but there has been much reconstruction. After severe damage, which is perhaps to be connected with the fortification of the island by King Magnus in 1098, the cathedral was rebuilt in herringbone masonry and extended westwards. The east end is of a later date than the rest and has been altered several times. The east two-light, arched window was made into a doorway in the 18th century but was restored in 1929. The west gable and belfry were blown down in the 19th century.
The building overall measures 19 metres in length by 7.5 metres wide, with walls averaging 1 metre in thickness. The remaining walls are largely up to their original heights, with the east gable surviving almost to the peak, and containing a large window, within which no tracery survives.
The masonry shows a complex construction history which is not well understood. It is built mostly of red sandstone, but includes some medium sized slates. At the base it is of medium rubble, quite well coursed. This is succeeded in north and south walls by sandstone courses laid in 'herring bone' fashion. Above this again are more horizontal sandstone courses. The present northern doorway is a later insertion, the older doorway, now blocked, being visible in the middle of the west end.
A pre-Scandanavian cross-slab from St Patrick’s Church, St Patrick’s Isle, Peel, which is thought to have originally been used as an altar slab. It bears a bronze plaque with the number 67 inscribed on it.
Four stained glass windows illustrated with etchings depicting the angel Michael flanked by examples of the various aircraft that flew out of Jurby.
The windows were designed by J.P. Phillips to replace the originals that were badly cracked due to subsidence. They were made by a specialist firm in Stockport and installed by Chase Construction of Ramsey. All those who served at RAF Jurby, in wartime and peacetime, were remembered at a special service when the new windows were dedicated. The service was held by the Reverend Rod Geddes, with Lieutenant Governor Ian Macfadyen and his wife Sally present. (Information sourced from newspaper clipping with photograph, date or title unknown.)
42 names listed in order of nationality. Plaque is divided into four panels. Each panel is outlined by a decorative Celtic interlace pattern.
5 names listed on fourth panel.
St Patricks Church, Jurby. There is a collection of cross slabs kept at the church which date to the 6th to 12th centuries AD and were found at or near St Patrick's church, Jurby. They are housed in the north porch of the church.
The site of an early medieval cross on St Patrick’s Isle. This cross-slab, found in St Patrick’s Chapel, has been interpreted as an altar-slab (Manx Cross No 46) and 'appears to have been from this Chapel' (re-numbered as Manx Cross No 67, but is also said to have come from St Patrick's Church).
A flint scatter consisting of “many worked flints” of possible Neolithic date. They were found in the area described by Canon Quine as the ‘residence of Magnus Barefoot’ and thought to be evidence of Neolithic settlement on the isle. The exact position of the find is not recorded, however.
The remains of a building which is said to have served as a private chapel of St Patrick's Church. The building was orientated east-southeast to west-northwest and built of local, undressed stone with some red sandstone and quartz. It is situated 20 metres north of the Round Tower and internally it measured 8.8 metres by 4.1 metres, with wall surviving up to a maximum of 1.8 metres, being 0.7 metres thick.
It is doubtful that the building was designed as a chapel since the doorway is in the east end, and there are no features in the walls to show that there was any other entrance. A number of skeletons are said to have been found lying below the floor, in sand, but no stone grave or coffin appears to have been found.
Several burials found in the supposed chapel and at the armoury in Peel Castle in 1929 and at the Half-Moon Battery, probably belong to the medieval parish cemetery of St Patrick's Church.
Viking raids on the early medieval monastic settlement on St Patrick’s Isle are inferred by the construction of the Round Tower as a refuge. Norse settlement on the isle is generally accepted to have been founded by Magnus Barefoot circa 1098 who probably built a timber fort or 'Peel' and established a royal residence for the Norse Kings of Man. The latter has been partly evidenced by excavation at the Earl of Derby's Apartments where a 12th century, two-phase, domestic building, including one sophisticated floor, and a burial ground containing an important female burial or 'queen', have been discovered.
Norse settlement on the isle is generally accepted to have been founded by Magnus Barefoot circa 1098 who probably built a timber fort or 'Peel' and established a royal residence for the Norse Kings of Man. The latter has been partly evidenced by excavation at the Earl of Derby's Apartments where a 12th century, two-phase, domestic building, including one sophisticated floor, and a burial ground containing an important female burial or 'queen', have been discovered.
St Patrick's Isle, encompassing an area of 7.5 acres, has been the focal point of ecclesiastical, military and secular occupation from the Early Christian to Medieval and later periods, which is attested by the standing remains and through excavation.
St German's Cathedral, possibly on the site of a predecessor, was founded in the 13th-14th centuries but due to the incursions of the raiding Scots was protected by a curtain wall and gatehouse in the later 14th century, a feature that was to develop into the fortress and garrison known as Peel Castle.
The water of St Patrick's Holy Well was reputed to have curative properties for sore eyes. The well has now disappeared and its site is grassed over. A roadway associated with RAF Jurby was laid near the well and the area was probably drained.
The site of a possible medieval well, shown as St Patrick's Well on the 1869 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map. Its Manx name is Chibbyr Noo Pharick, but it is also known as Chibbyr Sheeant and Chibbyr yn Argid. It is found half way down a steep west-facing slope and at the east end of a quarried out area measuring 11.0 metres northwest to southeast and 4.0 metres east to west. At the base of the rock face is a rectangular recess 0.5 metres wide and 0.9 metres long containing about 0.2 metres depth of clear water which appears to percolate through the rocks. Water also flows into a small grass bottomed pool to the west of this recess.
Shrine.
The structure comprises a rough drystone bench almost 2m long and 0.6m high. Set on top are two upright slabs which bear on one face a simple carved cross (Manx Crosses 6 and 7). It has been suggested that a third broken slab may also have once born a cross. The site is known as St Patrick's Chair, and folklore apparently attached to the site (confusingly a natural feature 2km to the north is known by the same name) states that St Patrick rested here and blessed the local population. There is no evidence that St Patrick ever visited the Isle of Man.
A mid-19th century source states that the structure is of late 18th century origin, and was erected as a hoax. The crosses appear genuine, however, and it seems possible that they originate from a Christian site, perhaps a chapel and burial ground, cleared during the same agricultural improvements which saw the surrounding field boundaries laid out in an unusually regular pattern.
The site of the early medieval St. Patrick's Chapel. It is thought that it was in use between circa AD500 and AD1000. Almost all trace of the chapel and its burial ground were removed by the mid-19th century and the stones used to construct mine buildings. In 1860 it was reported that two large "door pillars" still stood at the southern entrance to the keeill and were the only remaining parts of the structure to survive. One of these stones was reported in 1840 to be inscribed with "ancient lettering" which had subsequently been obliterated. One of these large stones was later built into the wall of Ballakilpheric Methodist Chapel ( SC 22507127) and is a smooth, rounded stone with no markings visible. The second stone is no longer to be found.
The extent of the chapel's burial ground is not known but graves have been discovered over a wide area. Canon E.B. Savage recorded the frequent ploughing up of graves around the keeill site and in the fields to the east of it. In one grave, he writes, there were coins of Edgar which if correct would date the grave to about 970 AD. A lady who lived at Ballakilpheric about 1910 informed Bruce that she remembered seeing slab-lined graves containing human bones being ploughed up near the keeill-site. In March 1964, a burial protected by stone slabs was turned up by the farmer in a field border 140 yards west of the keeill-site. The 'covering slab' was actually a portion of a smoothly polished slate table-top and another slab bore faint scratchings suggesting two lozenges point to point. These features suggested a recent burial, probably early 19th century. The keeill-site, situated on land long under cultivation, shows no trace of church or burial-ground enclosure but it is just possible from a very low viewpoint to detect a slightly raised area at the top of rising ground.
