The Manx name for Tynwald Hill: the hill of the church of John. The name preserves the pre-Norse Christian chapel dedicated to St John that stood at the site before the Vikings established their thing-vollr there. Three layers of meaning in one place name: the Celtic sacred site, the Christian keeill, and the Norse assembly. The etymology demonstrates the accommodation already operating inside the constitutional structure.
The site of an early medieval chapel or keeill, thought to have been in use between circa AD500 and AD1000. The site is at the north side of the highroad to Cronk-y-Coddy. The name of the keeill is lost but the field is still known as 'Chapel Field'. Several people remembered the removal of the foundations and ploughing of the site in about 1880. Mr Corlett stated that stones from it were placed along the east side of the lane leading into the field where they can still be seen. Nothing remains to mark the site but the 1869 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map shows the mound on which the keeill stood. It would have measured circa 12 metres by 7 metres. Evidently it had already been greatly reduced by the plough by that time.
Cronkbourne is a small settlement near Tromode in the parish of Braddan, close to Douglas. It was the birthplace in 1864 of the Manx artist and designer Archibald Knox, whose Celtic-revival work drew on the Island's carved stone crosses.
Cronkbourne Village is almost the only example in the Isle of Man of housing erected by a firm for its employees. It was built, probably between 1846 and 1850, by the Moore family for the workers in their sail-cloth mill which was situated a little higher up the river.
The dwellings have been bought and modernised by Braddan Parish Commissioners. The forty-two houses were arranged in two parallel terraces at right angles to the river and despite varied dimensions and arrangement there were only two basic ground-floor plans consisting of two (living room and rear scullery) or three rooms. Except for numbers 8-17 the houses are two-storeyed.
Some two dozen cottages are arranged in two rows parallelling each other separated by a green area on whose axis is focussed a community hall. All of the cottages are of masonry construction cement rendered with slate roofs. Although there is some variation in the designs with a series of bungalows rising with the contour of the ground and some dormer treatment of cottages on the flat land, all buildings are in continuous terraces with a common front plane for their respective rows. The complex thus creates a self contained community around the green space even though one of the rows of cottages backs onto the green while the other fronts onto it. The majority of the cottages have consistent decoration to their rather simply articulated fenestration.
The 'hall' is built of stone with a matching pitched slate roof rising to a bell housing in the gable over the original entrance from the village green. The hall however has been somewhat altered and is now used for non-community purposes. No interior inspections have been made.
A large granite boulder in a private garden at Cronkbreck has been interpreted to be the possible base of a 13th or 14th century cross from "The Crosh", or possibly a medieval font. The "boulder" measures 18 inch long x 11-12 inch wide x 10-13 inch high with rectangular hollows cut into it.
The findspot of a Neolithic trimmed flint flake and another flint implement. The grid reference is located to the centre of former OS Field No 2693 for indicative purposes only.
The site of a cliff-top Iron Age promontory fort. The natural defences consist of a precipitous drop in the West and steep slopes to re-entrants on the north and south. To complete the defence in the unprotected east side an outer ditch, average 5.0 metres wide and 0.8 metres deep from the outer lip, has been constructed from re-entrant to re-entrant. Unlike the typical promontory forts on the Isle of Man, the interior of the fort, which is grass and gorse covered and shows no trace of internal construction, is at approximate the same level as the surrounding ground. To compensate for this a stronger than usual inner bank has been provided, 1.0 metres upper width, 3.0 metres outer height and 2.8 metres inner height. There is no trace of an entrance and part of the inner bank is eroding away.
An emergency excavation was carried out here in 1958-9 of a disturbed burial site revealed by ploughing at Crosby Farm, Bride. The site consisted of a megalithic capstone above a shallow pit filled with charcoal. The excavation yielding no datable finds.
This was the site of a now lost stone which may have been a large erratic boulder of felspathic sandstone or grit, but possibly a prehistoric standing stone which had been set up on end to mark the site of a burial place. It was inclined to the southeast and measured 1.7 metres high by 1.9 metres wide by 1.0 metre thick at the base and was approximate 1.0 metres square at the top. A number of small probable field clearing stones were placed around it. No trace of a mound was found. It was not a rubbing post.
Prehistoric spindle whorl.
A stone spindle whorl, of Bronze or Iron Age date, was found in the Crosby vicarage garden by the donor, and given to the Manx Museum in 1931.
The spindle whorl is of a reddish stone,and measures 33mm in diameter.
The object is in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1954-2928.
Neolithic burial cairn. This much-damaged cairn has been plundered of stone for use in nearby field boundaries. It is obscured by gorse but measures approximately 20m in diameter and is raised up to 1.2m above the level of the neighbouring field. The field boundary to the north and west may incorporate part of the body of the cairn. Internal structures, apparently representing chambers or passages, have been noted in the past.
The supposed site of a "crosh" mound, which was a medieval or later coffin rest used when carrying a coffin for burial along the old road to the parish church. A feature consisting of a small mound of earth, 1.8 metres x 1.2 metres x 0.9 metres high, with a dry stone wall facing of large stones on its eastern side. The mound is situated just below the crest of the gorse covered slope. Its age and purpose are unknown but it may have some connection with the tradition of coffin rest.
The site of an early medieval keeill and burial ground which were located in the field numbered 704 on the 1884 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map. Lintel graves have been found within the field, even during ploughing in modern times, just inside the gate at the southwest corner of the field. The name Crosh Pharlane is remembered locally.
