In his 'Isle of Man' published in 1848, J.G. Cumming recounts that in 1827, "after a violent storm...the sands opposite Mount Gawne were swept away and discovered a vast number of trunks of trees, some standing upright, others laid prostrate towards the north, as if overthrown by some violent incursion of the sea...it has been further stated to me...that the foundations of a primitive hut were laid bare, and that therein were some antique uncouth-looking instruments, once the property...of the primitive woodcutters."




Cummings' account is later distilled by local antiquary F. Swinnerton in 1902 to 'the foundations of a primitive hut' containing 'rude wood-cutting tools...among the remains of trees on the sea-shore below Mount Gawne, in Bay-ny-Carrickey'.  Swinnerton also makes reference to axe-marked wood found in the same locality. 


The accounts would appear to describe an area of prehistoric woodland inundated by marine incursion or sea-level rise.  Similar remains have been recorded on several occasions at Cranstal / Phurt in Bride.