Archaeology

Items

The Bridle Stone
Medieval standing stone. The Ordnance Survey First Edition 1:2500 map of 1868 records 'Site of Chapel & Burial Ground' without a marker denoting the location; the wording is centred at SC20867093. A stone set in the hedge to the south of the site is known locally as the 'bridle stone', and tradition holds that it was used to tether horses during funerals. The stone is a large, worn block of local rock perforated by a substantial hole. It is set in the top of the hedge at SC20937089.
The Broighter Hoard and the Gold Boat
In 1896, a gold model boat was found at Broighter on the shore of Lough Foyle in County Derry. It is eighteen centimetres long, with two rows of nine oars, benches, a paddle rudder, rowlocks, and miniature tools. It was buried in a salt-marsh, probably as a votive offering to a sea god — probably Manannán mac Lir — sometime around the first century BC. The craftsmanship is extraordinary. Someone spent weeks on it, getting every detail right, and then put it in the ground where nobody would ever see it again. That is what an offering looks like. Not showy. Not loud. Just the best work you can do, given to the sea, in the dark, and trusted to reach where it is going. O'Donovan recorded that Manannán was still vividly remembered in the mountainous district of Derry and Donegal, and was said to have an enchanted castle in Lough Foyle — the same stretch of water where the boat was buried. The hoard also contained a gold torc, a gold bowl, and other gold ornaments, all of exceptional quality. The collection is now held by the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The Broighter boat is the earliest known physical evidence of devotion to a sea god in the Irish Sea world. It predates the written sources by a thousand years. When the Manx people carried their bundles of rushes up South Barrule at Midsummer, they were performing a version of the same act: offering the best of what they had to the one who kept them safe.
The Broogh, Ronaldsway
Undated enclosure. An elliptical enclosure is often visible as a cropmark on the summit of the Broogh, a low hillock on the NE side of Ronaldsway airport. The enclosure measures approximately 100m NNW-SSE and 80m WSW-ENE. Occasionally parts of another circuit are visible within the enclosure. The summit has been disturbed by the installation of an air traffic light, dating either from the time of the construction of Ronaldsway airport as a military airfield in 1943-4, or else following its conversion to a civil airfield after the end of WW2. More recently in 2011 a new radar installation was constructed within the enclosure and the work was the subject of an archaeological investigation. No finds were made. It is possible, based on the finds made at Skibrick Hill (PRN 0109), that the enclosure might date to the Iron Age.
The Bungalow, Snaefell Palisade
A series of pointed wooden posts found in a peat bog on the east slope of Snaefell, which have been interpreted as the remains of a prehistoric palisade around ancient dwellings or defence works.
The Cabbal Burial Ground
The site of an early medieval keeill or chapel and burial ground at Ballameanagh, located some 60 metres south of the stream and 179 metres southeast of the bridge. Traditionally it was said to be visited on St John's Eve for the purpose of divination. On a projecting bluff at the south corner of the small field a portion of the ancient cemetery and part of the foundations of the keeill were recorded.
The Cabbal Keeill
The site of an early medieval keeill or chapel and burial ground at Ballameanagh, located some 60 metres south of the stream and 179 metres southeast of the bridge. Traditionally it was said to be visited on St John's Eve for the purpose of divination. On a projecting bluff at the south corner of the small field, a portion of the ancient cemetery and part of the foundations of the keeill were recorded, but a roadway had been cut diagonally through the building and many of the stones removed in the past.  It is thought that the keeill building would have measured about 4.5 metres long by 2.75 metres wide. An apparent prehistoric grave was discovered in the roadway cut across the keeill. It was well constructed and stone lined and measured 2 metres long by between 30 centimetres and 50 centimetres wide.  It appears to have been located under the north wall of the keeill.
The Cabbal Keeill, Ballagonnell
The site of an early medieval chapel or keeill which is thought to have been in use between circa AD500 and AD1000.  Glass beads and pot of silver coins were found at the site circa 1890. The stones were removed by the owner and a broken font was sent to parish church for safe-keeping.
The Cashtal Promontory Fort
This small inland promontory overlooking the Glen Gawne or Garwick stream is crowned by a ruinous rectilinear structure which was visible at the time of the Ordnance Survey in the late 1860s, and orientated SW-NE. The site was investigated by Gerhard Bersu in 1941. Excavation revealed the remains of two superimposed rectilinear structures: the first measured 11 by 5.6m, and was defined by a small number of surviving postholes, which suggested a wholly wooden structure to the excavator. This building appeared to have burnt down. The second structure was built over the first and extended slightly further to the NE, so that it measured approximately 13m in length, and required the building up of the ground level at this end of the promontory in order to accommodate it. The structure was defined by well-built walls faced in stone with an earth core. The interior was marked by four parallel but discontinuous rows of postholes aligned along the long axis of the building. It would appear that they were meant to support a roof structure. No datable artefacts were recovered. Having initially postulated that the building might have represented a secure or even defensible granary, Bersu later changed his mind and thought that it represented a dwelling; following Bersu's death, Marshall Cubbon excused the lack of an obvious hearth by suggesting that it might have been set on bedrock already reddened by the destruction of the original building.
The Chasa, Onchan
Neolithic stone axehead. A polished Neolithic stone axehead was found on the Chasa, an area of wetland north of Onchan parish church, by a Mr Lewin, the village postmaster. A drawing of the axehead was made by the finder for PMC Kermode (director of the Manx Museum 1922-32) in the latter's notebook, under the date of 1st December 1892, implying that it was found prior to this. Kermode subsequently (1901) appears to refer to the same object having been found in the 'Field below Vicarage Garden, Howstrake.' The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1867 shows a 1-acre millpond just to the north-east of the Chasa, which is centred at the grid reference provided. The post office is marked at the road junction about 80m west of the Chasa. The axehead was subsequently sent off the Island, and its whereabouts are unknown.
The Cloven Stones Burial
The site of a Neolithic chambered cairn. The site has never been excavated, but is thought to be a passage grave aligned on a north-northeast to south-southwest axis, with a chamber 2.4 metres wide and 4.2 metres long, based on the partially exposed structure.   The stones are situated in the front garden of a bungalow, and are closely constricted between the building and the road, both of which have contributed to the destruction of the rest of the structure.   A true sense of ground level is difficult to establish as both the road and the bungalow are sunken below the level of the monument.  The appearance therefore is of a raised mound from which the tops of seven stones of the chamber and the septal stone protrude together with two portal stones. The latter are of a monumental scale and stand to a height of 1.8 metres and 1.7 metres respectively.  On the northwest side the chamber is obscured by the garden wall, but to the southeast the entire length of the side slabs remain in situ as revetting between the raised garden and the wall of the dwelling.
The Cloven Stones Burial Cairn
Neolithic chambered cairn. The site has never been excavated, but is thought to be a passage grave aligned on a NNE-SSW axis, with a chamber 2.4m wide and 4.2m long, based on the partially exposed structure. The stones are situated in the front garden of a bungalow, and are closely constricted between the building and the road, both of which have contributed to the destruction of the rest of the structure. A true sense of ground level is difficult to establish as both the road and the bungalow are sunken below the level of the monument. The appearance therefore, is of a raised mound from which the tops of seven stones of the chamber and the septal stone protrude together with two portal stones. The latter are of a monumental scale and stand to a height of 1.8 m and 1.7 m respectively. On the north-west side the chamber is obscured by the garden wall, but to the south-east the entire length of the side slabs remain in situ as revetting between the raised garden and the wall of the dwelling.
The Cloven Stones Flint Site
Stray Neolithic flints found within area of the Cloven Stones chambered cairn, which is now part of a garden.
The Cloven Stones Flint Site
Neolithic flints. Stray worked flints have been found within the area of monument which is part of a garden.
The Court
This unusual site, known as The Court, is seen to best effect on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 large scale mapping published in 1870.  This shows a rectilinear enclosure occupying the north and west half of OS Field no. 1107, bounded by a wide ditch to the south, east and north.  To the west and north-west, the site is defined by the field boundary and a small stream or drainage channel which follows the line of the hedge.  The enclosed area measured about 100 by 110m, with a small, rectilinear extension about 20 by 30 m in the south-west corner.  Near the south side of the enclosure, the OS also depicts a square-topped mound about 20 m across.  By the middle of the 20th century it was noted that the mound was reduced and stood around 1 m high, whilst the ditches, although in some places 10 to 15 m wide, were by then quite shallow.  All features are now substantially ploughed down and best seen on aerial photographs or LiDAR. The OS names the site 'The Court' using the standard pre-Norman antiquities script, though no dating evidence or artefacts are known.  A visit to the site in the mid 20th century observed stones in the area east of the mound but these were considered to be part of a modern structure. It has been speculated that the site was some kind of fortification, but its location would tend to contradict the idea that it served a defensive purpose.  The site lies in a hollow and is overlooked on all sides except to the NNW, in which direction the hollow develops into a more deeply-cut drainage feature which eventually accommodates a stream issuing onto Cain's Strand 900 m away.  The topography of the hollow suggests that at one time several palaeo-channels once flowed into it from the east; one of these later accommodated the tail leat from the mill at East Lherghydhoo farm (see Record no 1775.00) which appears to have been disrupted by the construction of the Manx Northern Railway line which opened in 1879.  A more recent suggestion is that the site is an example of a 'courtyard farm', though this is not a type of site found in the Isle of Man.  The unusual name has also led to the suggestion that the site was of high status, perhaps even the location of a bishop's palace, though this too lacks confirmatory evidence.
The Court
This unusual site, known as The Court, is seen to best effect on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 large scale mapping published in 1870.  This shows a rectilinear enclosure occupying the north and west half of OS Field no. 1107, bounded by a wide ditch to the south, east and north.  To the west and north-west, the site is defined by the field boundary and a small stream or drainage channel which follows the line of the hedge.  The enclosed area measured about 100 by 110m, with a small, rectilinear extension about 20 by 30 m in the south-west corner.  Near the south side of the enclosure, the OS also depicts a square-topped mound about 20 m across.  All features are now substantially ploughed down and best seen on aerial photographs or LiDAR. The OS names the site 'The Court' using the standard pre-Norman antiquities script, though no dating evidence or artefacts are known.  It has been speculated that the site was some kind of fortification, but its location would tend to contradict the idea that it served a defensive purpose.  The site lies in a hollow and is overlooked on all sides except to the NNW, in which direction the hollow develops into a more deeply-cut drainage feature which eventually accommodates a stream issuing onto Cain's Strand 900 m away.
The Craige Flint Scatter
The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter.  OS Field No. 2112.
The Craige Flint Scatter
The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter.  OS Field No. 2111.
The Creg Burial Mound
The site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow, where stone cists have been found in the past. It survives as a grass-covered, ditchless bowl barrow with a diameter of 17.0 metres and a height of 1.0 metres to the west. On top is an irregular stone slab, probably a capstone, measuring 1.4 metres by 1.2 metres by 0.2 metres thick.
The Crofts
Medieval burial ground. The existence of a burial ground in this area, known as the Crofts, was established in 1914 when a farmhand digging for sand found a lintel grave. Further graves were found in 1932 and the site was visited by W. Cubbon and J.R. Bruce representing the Manx Museum and Ancient Monuments inspectorate. By this time the area had become a considerable sandpit. Other burials had also been found since, according to the farmer, A.P. Collister, when interviewed by Bruce in 1965, though no details were given. These had evidently been found on the seaward (west) edge of the field. The area was officially inspected by the Museum director and J.R.Bruce in 1950 on behalf of the Surveyor-General of the Highway Board with a view to ascertaining the limits of the burial area. No surface indication was observed of any extension of the burial ground beyond the grave-sites already recognised. The sandpit where the burial was found in 1932 formed part of a farmyard, but is now filled in and part of landscaped grounds adjoining Beachcroft farm (as it is now called); the other burial-sites are no longer visible. The precise location of the burials cannot from the historical descriptions be traced on the ground today. The grid reference given is for indicative purposes only.
The Cronk
The conjectured site of a Neolithic Ronaldsway settlement. The area has produced finds of large numbers of flints, pottery, a cup-marked stone and a stone axehead from the vicinity of The Cronk, a mound to the north side of Lough Cranstal. The flints consisted of cores and chips, scrapers and flakes, an intact stone axehead 7.5 centimetres long by 5 centimetres broad and about a dozen flints with small notches. Ronaldsway type pottery included one smooth, grey urn and one bright red, rough urn with possible herring bone markings. A small cup marked stone of grey slate (0399.10), measuring 10 centimetres by 7.5 centimetres was also found. The Cronk is a large, rather shapeless, hillock which is apparently a natural sand mound of which there are several in the same field. It has been partially dug away and is now partly under grass and partly under the plough. There were no surface finds. Flint scrapers, including hump-backed scrapers were found in association with Ronaldsway pottery, but the material is unstratified.
The Cronk
A mound of early medieval date at Ballaqueeney.
The Cronk Burial Cairn
Undated cairn. Two notes on an annotated map recording antiquarian observations retained at the Manx Museum imply the observation of a cairn at this location, and the presumption that it contained a burial. P.M.C. Kermode (Museum director 1925-32) wrote 'Cronk Cairn' and marked the site, whilst his successor W. Cubbon (director 1932-40) wrote 'Pile of stones "himself is underneath"' (the latter probably quotes a local farmer). Subsequent Ordnance Survey field workers recorded the site as an alleged feature which was probably natural, as it marks the termination of a low grass covered ridge running N-S.
The Cronk Corn Mill
A post-medieval corn mill shown on the 1869 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. It no longer exists.