Graves were reportedly discovered in the 1920s by a farmer at the Friary though their location was never formally recorded. From the description, '40 to 50 yards west of the church', they would appear to have been located where an area of trees stood until cleared in the 1970s. the area is now occupied by an agricultural building and farmland.
Medieval enclosure.
According to accounts prepared less than twenty years before the dissolution came into force on the Isle of Man, Bemaken Friary was recorded as holding a 'quarter of land comprising 40 acres enclosed by a ditch'.
J.K. Barratt in 1964 suggested that the course of the stream just to the north of the friary was likely to have been little changed since medieval times, and also noted that a substantial ditch, nearly a metre wide and lined with flagstones, had once lain approximately parallel, to the SE: the distance between the two watercourses is about 450 - 460m. He proposed that, assuming the main road was on the line of a medieval boundary, that the friary's 40-acre holding could have been accommodated within the space formed by these three features, with the fourth side of an irregular rectangle lying about 360 - 370m SW of the road.
The stone-lined ditch to which he referred is now piped under ground for much of its length. It should be noted that the antiquity of the main road past the friary is unknown. It may also be of interest to note that the Friary farm quarterland in 1865 amounted to 140 acres.
The grid reference provided lies at the centre of Barratt's notional landholding.
This pillar-shaped stone was found at Bemaken Friary (IOMHER 0011.00) where it was noted at least as early as 1885 built into the south wall of the friary church, where it had probably been re-used as a lintel. Once recovered it was found to be incomplete, the upper end being broken off. It bears an incomplete ogham inscription running up one edge, which reads, 'Cunamagli maq?', translated as '(the stone) of Cunamaglus, son of?'. It is now displayed in the Manx Museum.
This rounded granite boulder was found at Bemaken Friary (IOMHER 0011.00). Its precise findspot is unknown, but a local tradition reports that it was found in a field bank on the boundary between the Friary and the neighbouring farm of Ballaclague lying to the north-west. The stone bears a simple ogham inscription which spells the name, 'Macleog', from which the modern Manx surname 'Clague' is derived. The stone is now displayed at the Manx Museum.
Worked prehistoric flint of later Mesolithic (heavy-bladed) character has been found at Billown. The material included scrapers and flakes, and was localised to Ordnance Survey Field no. 2441, which is centred at the grid reference provided.
Modern steam-powered water pump.
Quarrying at Billown appears to have begun in 1834 at the northern end of the site. At the time of the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1868, two disused quarry pits and six abandoned lime kilns are shown at the north end of the site.
A further two quarry pits, marked 'Quarries', associated with a further set of three 'Limekilns' are shown just to the south. The more southerly of the two quarries is shown flooded (PRN 2138.), but adjacent to it is a structure marked 'Engine House'. This housed a steam engine used to pump the quarry sufficiently clear of water to allow working to continue.
The steam engine was used until 1892, when it was replaced by a wind-powered pump.
Modern wind-powered water pump.
Quarrying at Billown appears to have begun in 1834 at the northern end of the site. At the time of the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1868, two disused quarry pits and six abandoned lime kilns are shown at the north end of the site.
A further two quarry pits, marked 'Quarries', associated with a further set of three 'Limekilns' are shown just to the south. A steam engine was used to pump the quarry sufficiently clear of water to allow working to continue, but this was replaced in 1892 by a wind-powered pump.
The wind-powered pump was used in a number of locations, and was latterly used to pump water from the most southerly, and most recent, of the quarries (PRN 2138.14), and was reportedly sited near to the SW corner of the quarry.
Undated standing stone.
This tall, dark standing stone has a surface of white quartz on one face.
It is located close to a minor summit, which may suggest a prehistoric origin.
A tradition exists that graves have been found immediately to the north in the neighbouring agricultural field. Despite inquiries made of landowners and farming tenants in the past, this tradition could not be proved.
A conjectured keeill-site listed by Kermode and marked as 'lintel-graves' on his 6 inch field map but these appear to derive solely from Oswald in 1860, who stated that on top of the hill near the stone circle 'there is an extensive cemetery of the dead arranged in stone graves.' Bruce added that no keeill or burial-ground is marked on a 1793 estate-plan (in the Manx Museum Library) and the present owner and tenant-farmer could not recall the finding of graves or foundations during ploughing. Bruce concluded that while urn-burials, presumably Bronze Age, may have been found there was no real evidence for the site of a keeill and burial-ground. Haining in 1822 seems to have been the earliest authority regarding the 'extensive cemetery' but gives no more information than Oswald.
A keeill-site listed by Kermode and marked as 'lintel-graves' on his 6 inch field map but these appear to derive solely from Oswald in 1860, who stated that on top of the hill near the stone circle 'there is an extensive cemetery of the dead arranged in stone graves.' Bruce added that no keeill or burial-ground is marked on a 1793 estate-plan (in the Manx Museum Library) and the present owner and tenant-farmer could not recall the finding of graves or foundations during ploughing. Bruce concluded that while urn-burials, presumably Bronze Age, may have been found there was no real evidence for the site of a keeill and burial-ground. Haining in 1822 seems to have been the earliest authority regarding the 'extensive cemetery' but gives no more information than Oswald.
