Northern parish of the Isle of Man, occupying part of the low ground beyond Andreas towards the Point of Ayre.
Robertson’s late eighteenth-century survey records forty-two quarterlands in Kirk Bride. The parish formed part of Ayre Sheading and, like the neighbouring northern parishes, was principally agricultural.
Bride supported two annual fairs in Robertson’s list, one in February and another in May. The parish register figures he printed give thirty-seven baptisms, ten marriages and twenty-three burials in 1792; thirty-six baptisms, nine marriages and seventeen burials in 1793; and forty-three baptisms, eighteen marriages and twenty-four burials in 1794. The totals continued to fluctuate during the following two years.
The parish church was served in 1798 by the Rev. Thomas Corlett. Robertson noted that Bride had no vicarage house, one of the parishes in which the incumbent lacked a proper clerical residence.
Its northern position also placed Bride within the landscape of the Ayre. The parish lay close to the coast and the extensive flat ground around the Point of Ayre, in marked contrast with the mountainous interior further south.
The parish retained a substantial body of antiquarian and folklore material, although the present evidence pack is strongest for its eighteenth-century administrative, ecclesiastical and demographic record.
Northern parish of the Isle of Man, occupying part of the low ground beyond Andreas towards the Point of Ayre.
Robertson’s late eighteenth-century survey records forty-two quarterlands in Kirk Bride. The parish formed part of Ayre Sheading and, like the neighbouring northern parishes, was principally agricultural.
Bride supported two annual fairs in Robertson’s list, one in February and another in May. The parish register figures he printed give thirty-seven baptisms, ten marriages and twenty-three burials in 1792; thirty-six baptisms, nine marriages and seventeen burials in 1793; and forty-three baptisms, eighteen marriages and twenty-four burials in 1794. The totals continued to fluctuate during the following two years.
The parish church was served in 1798 by the Rev. Thomas Corlett. Robertson noted that Bride had no vicarage house, one of the parishes in which the incumbent lacked a proper clerical residence.
Its northern position also placed Bride within the landscape of the Ayre. The parish lay close to the coast and the extensive flat ground around the Point of Ayre, in marked contrast with the mountainous interior further south.
The parish retained a substantial body of antiquarian and folklore material, although the present evidence pack is strongest for its eighteenth-century administrative, ecclesiastical and demographic record.
This small rectangular cottage is constructed of stone cement rendered with a thatched roof (rushes from the Ayres). Set at right angles to the road the structure is somewhat renovated. But it has the original rectangular windows on either side of the single front door. There is a minor extension to the east with a slate roof and another door. No interior inspection has been performed. The cottage appears in good repair. This cottage is situated within a hundred metres of another of similar type. Having two such examples of the few remaining buildings of this early rural workers dwelling close together and adjacent to a public road lends weight to their importance.
This pair of thatched cottages has been formed into one dwelling parallel to the road. The whitewashed stone walls are buttressed on the road facade (possibly to prevent deterioration through traffic vibration). In spite of this, the authentic atmosphere is still maintained in the character of the structure and the Ayre rush thatch. Two chimneys (separate) project through the center and north gable ridge respectively and the window and door rectangular openings have been retained in their original locations although the fitments are new. No interior inspection has been performed. The state of repair seems to be very good. This cottage is within a hundred metres of another of similar type.
The site of a ring-shaped cropmark of unknown significance seen on aerial photographs in the southwest corner of a field to the southwest of Bride village. It lies in the field numbered Plot 612 on the 1870 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. The site is now built over.
The Kirk Bride pinfold stands on the west side of the high road near East Kimmeragh. It measures approximately 12.5 metres long by 11 metres wide. Its walls are of stone with some parts bound by mortar. The entrance is in the east wall, with slate lintel above.
Each parish was responsible for the maintenance and repair of its own pinfold, but their origins are uncertain although a statute of 1422 confirms customary laws already long established by that time.
A record for the church at Kirk Christ. The medieval church was ruined by the late 17th century and was replaced by the present church in 1704. That 1704 building was in turn superseded by the current church, erected in 1835. It contains a stained-glass window by Daniel Cottier, the Aesthetic Movement glass painter and designer whose father and grandfather were born in the parish.
Kirk Christ Lezayre (Holy Trinity) is the parish church near Ramsey, built in 1835 to replace an older hillside church that had fallen into disrepair; the rebuilding was advocated by Bishop William Ward and designed by Welsh architect John Welch, part of a wider 1830s programme of rebuilding Manx parish churches. The church contains a stained-glass window by artist Daniel Cottier, erected 1884 in memory of his father and grandfather, confirming the family's local roots. The parish's monastic connection is more precisely to the Priory of Whithern in Scotland, which held Lezayre's rectory - Furness Abbey's own Manx holdings were the parsonages of Maughold and Michael, not Lezayre.
A fragment of an outline cross-slab kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It was found in 1928. It measures 26.7 centimetres x 13 centimetres x 3.17 centimetres.
A fragment of an outline cross-slab kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It was found in 1928. It measures 39.4 centimetres x 20.3 centimetres x 3.17 centimetres.
A fragment of cross-slab with a hexafoil cross incised on side B and a plain cross on side A. It is kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It was found in 1928. It measures 56 centimetres x 30.5 centimetres x 2.54 centimetres.
A fragment of a Runic inscribed cross-slab kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It was found in 1928. It measures 23 centimetres x 5.7 centimetres x 3.8 centimetres.
An un-numbered cross-slab kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It appears to have been found at Cronk yn Howe. It measures 25.5 centimetres x 12.7 centimetres x 1.9 centimetres.
An un-numbered cross-slab kept in Kirk Christ Lezayre. It appears to have been found at Cronk yn Howe. It measures 65.4 centimetres x 12.7 centimetres x 3.8 centimetres.
Medieval pinfold.
One of two pinfolds for the parish of Kirk Christ Lezayre stood on the north side of the main road between Sulby and Ramsey at the mouth of Glen Auldyn. It was annotated as such on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869, and was indentified as OS Plot no. 2263, centred at the grid reference provided.
In 1940 the pinfold was described as measuring approximately 43 feet by 27 feet, with walls standing more than 6 feet high, built of stone throughout and with frequent evidence of repair. The entrance was in the centre of the south wall facing the road, with two slate jamb-stones standing more than 5 feet high, but no sign of a lintel. A stone projected from the outer face of the wall to one side of the entrance, apparently to facilitate inspection of the animals impounded within.
The entrance has since been widened to allow vehicular access, and is presently closed by a field gate.
Each parish was responsible for the maintenance and repair of its own pinfold. Their origins are uncertain although an early statute of 1422 confirms that the customary laws relating to their maintenance and use were already well established.
Parish cemetery. The Manx parishes were created during the twelfth century and there is no evidence to suggest that the centre of Rushen parish has moved since that time.
Ordnance Survey mapping prepared in 1867 shows the graveyard defined to south and east by the adjacent highway, with a recorded area of just less that 0.6 acres. The land immediately to the west is occupied by the vicarage and its grounds, and the otherwise curvilinear boundary of the graveyard is sharply defined here by a straighter wall running roughly north-south.
The old burial ground has since been greatly extended to the west and south-west during the 20th century as a consequence of the substantial expansion of the nearby settlements of Port Erin and Port St Mary.
The grid reference provided reflects the approximate centre of the historical graveyard as depicted by the OS in 1867.
Kirk Christ is the parish church for Rushen. No earlier structure is known and it is likely that the present building incorporates masonry dating back to the medieval period.
The church was substantially repaired and re-dedicated in 1775, and with the exceptions of the small east apse added in 1869 and a south porch completed in the mid 20th century has remained largely unaltered since. It was re-roofed in 1935.
Medieval pinfold.
A stone built, sub-rectangular enclosure. The north and south walls are broadly parallel, measuring 11 and 17m respectively. The east wall is 9m long, while the west wall, running alongside a stream which provided water for the animals, is 12m long.
The pinfold was in good condition and in use until the 1930s, with walls standing 2m high. Its upper walls subsequently became ruinous, but have since been repaired and capped with cement, though the slate lintel formerly across the opening has now been lost - presumably when the latter was widened.
Documentary records for the Rushen pinfold extend back to 1665. Each parish was responsible for the maintenance and repair of its own pinfold, but while their origins are uncertain, a statute of 1422 confirms that customary laws for the impounding of stray animals was already long established.
The site is owned by the Department of Infrastructure.
Parish on the west coast of the Isle of Man, including Peel and St Patrick's Isle.
The parish takes its name from St German, whose cathedral stood within Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. The cathedral made German one of the principal ecclesiastical districts of the Island and connected the parish directly with the Bishops of Sodor and Man.
Peel formed the principal settlement. The River Neb reaches the sea there, beside St Patrick's Isle, while the parish extended inland towards St John's and the central valley. Robertson's description included Peel within German and recorded the roads and river crossings which linked the west-coast town with the rest of the Island.
The old cathedral remained the burial place of bishops and rulers after the medieval kingdom had declined. Bishop Simon, who began the cathedral church of St German, was buried there after his death in 1247.
The parish also contained numerous smaller ecclesiastical sites and carved stones. Antiquarian writers treated German, Peel Castle and St Patrick's Isle together because the boundaries between parish church, cathedral, fortress and town were closely interwoven.
Peel's fishing and harbour economy gave Kirk German a maritime character distinct from many inland parishes. The Neb, harbour and western sea remained the main focus of the settlement, while the eastern part of the parish reached towards Tynwald and the routes across the Island.
