A quantity of worked Mesolithic flint was recovered over the course of nearly a century from the site of the Fenella Hotel on Peel Hill by a number of collectors, including Dr C Marsh, PMC Kermode, CH Cowley and BK Corlett.


The flint is mostly of early Mesolithic, microlithic type, leading Dr LS Garrad to describe the area as a major site of the period.  Prof PC Woodman subsequently reappraised this area of Peel Hill as 'probably a group of sites rather than a single site. Material from both the Mesolithic and Neolithic can be found in this area'.  The area of recovery would appear to be centred a little to the north of Ashton's Battery.  


The hotel was built c1875, within the footprint of a former stone quarry, and burnt down in 1896.  The earliest finds were made in 1887, so it is unlikely that they were made on the site of the hotel itself. Undisturbed ground just to the south is the more likely location, and this is reflected in the grid reference.  A few worked flints have been recovered from the area of eroded footpath immediately adjacent, though no material has been found recently (time of writing, 2020).


A large proportion of the material was recovered by the antiquary Charles Harry Cowley, 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.