There may have been an early settlement at Ballakaighen. A dug-out canoe was found with piles and baulks of timber and a quantity of flint flakes, when draining a field south of the railway cutting at a point some 400 metres west of the house and 460 metres southwest of Glen Cam. The canoe was probably of Bronze Age date. It was found in association with two stone burial cists.
There may have been an early settlement at Ballakaighen. A dug-out canoe was found in association with two stone cists and 13 oak piles. To the north was a considerable area of burnt soil, stones and charcoal. Inland, to the south-west, further traces of burning have been found with more oak piles, while throughout the field great numbers of flint flakes and cores have been picked up.
Worked and unworked flint has been recovered on various occasions from Ordnance Survey Field no. 1536, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The worked material is of late Mesolithic (heavy-bladed) character.
The grid reference is centred on the middle of the field.
Worked prehistoric flint of Mesolithic (heavy bladed) type, including flakes and scrapers, found in Ordnance Survey Field no. 1536, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The material was found towards the southern end of the field.
The artefacts are in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0045.
Sample of flint from Ordnance Survey Field no. 1536, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The material was collected from the southern side of the field close to a watercourse, demonstrating the type of raw material potentially available in the past.
The material is in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0048.
Sample of worked and unworked flint and possibly utilised stones from Ordnance Survey Field no. 1536, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The finds were collected from the southern side of the field close to a watercourse and are all heavily rolled. The worked flints are of late Mesolithic (heavy bladed) character, whilst the unworked flint demonstrates the type of raw material potentially available in the past.
The material is in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0277.
Worked and unworked flint has been recovered on various occasions from Ordnance Survey Field no. 1528, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The worked material is of late Mesolithic (heavy-bladed) character.
The grid reference is centred on the middle of the field.
Worked prehistoric flint of Mesolithic (heavy bladed) type, including flakes, blades and a scraper, found in Ordnance Survey Field no. 1528, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The material was found towards the southern side of the field.
The artefacts are in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0046.
Worked and unworked flint found in Ordnance Survey Field no. 1528, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory. The worked flints are of late Mesolithic (heavy bladed) character, whilst the unworked flint demonstrates the type of raw material potentially available in the past.
The artefacts are in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0261.
The grid reference is centred on the middle of the field.
Worked prehistoric flint of Mesolithic (heavy bladed) type, found in Ordnance Survey Field no. 1526, Lower Ballavarkish, Arbory.
The precise findspot is not recorded and the grid reference refers to the centre of the field.
The artefacts are in the Manx National Heritage collections, accession no. 1986-0262.
Lighthouse. This lighthouse, together with its twin nearby, was built in 1818 for the Northern Lighthouse Board to the designs of Robert Stevenson, one of the Board's most famous engineers.
The two lighthouses worked in tandem, indicating to passing ships if they were in danger of colliding with the Chicken Rock nearly 2km to the south. The Stevenson lighthouses were replaced by a lighthouse on the Chicken Rock itself in 1875, after several difficult years of construction. More recently a modern light, warning of the dangers of the Calf of Man itself rather than the sinister reef to the south, was installed close to the old Stevenson towers in 1967, but this was decommissioned in 2007 as unnecessary in the modern age of satellite-enabled navigation and global positioning. The Chicken light was upgraded at the same time so that its light is visible from a distance of 21 miles.
In common with many of the NLB's installations, each lighthouse was attached to a keeper's house, with adjoining garden and other basic facilities. The buildings are now maintained as nesting sites for birdlife in keeping with the status of the Calf of Man as a nature reserve and bird observatory.
