Chapter 17 from an 1893 published work examining the historical development and contemporary structure of the Isle of Man's constitution, legislature, and governance. Traces the evolution of Tynwald, the House of Keys, and the Council from medieval times through the 19th century, with particular emphasis on the 1866 electoral reforms and the Governor's powers. Directly relevant to understanding the constitutional and administrative context following the 1765 Revestment.

The tradition holds that the Cottier family of Lezayre accompanied the Christians to Virginia around 1655, and that two Cottier daughters married the two Christian brothers before departure. The primary evidence rests on two entries in Nugent’s Cavaliers and Pioneers: a “Jno. Codier” appearing as a headright alongside Anne Christian in a 1658 Potomac patent, and a “Jno. Cotier” in a 1662 Lancaster County patent. Both names are traditionally read as Cottier — a distinctively Manx surname. The 1658 pairing of a Christian and a Cottier in the same patent is the closest the primary record comes to the tradition. However, the Pearlman genealogical research demonstrated that the Cottier-Christian marriages occurred in a later generation in Virginia, not before departure from Mann. No independent evidence places a Cottier family in Lezayre at the right date, and no ship record or departure record has been found for either family.

This unusual site, known as The Court, is seen to best effect on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 large scale mapping published in 1870.  This shows a rectilinear enclosure occupying the north and west half of OS Field no. 1107, bounded by a wide ditch to the south, east and north.  To the west and north-west, the site is defined by the field boundary and a small stream or drainage channel which follows the line of the hedge.  The enclosed area measured about 100 by 110m, with a small, rectilinear extension about 20 by 30 m in the south-west corner.  Near the south side of the enclosure, the OS also depicts a square-topped mound about 20 m across.  By the middle of the 20th century it was noted that the mound was reduced and stood around 1 m high, whilst the ditches, although in some places 10 to 15 m wide, were by then quite shallow.  All features are now substantially ploughed down and best seen on aerial photographs or LiDAR. The OS names the site 'The Court' using the standard pre-Norman antiquities script, though no dating evidence or artefacts are known.  A visit to the site in the mid 20th century observed stones in the area east of the mound but these were considered to be part of a modern structure. It has been speculated that the site was some kind of fortification, but its location would tend to contradict the idea that it served a defensive purpose.  The site lies in a hollow and is overlooked on all sides except to the NNW, in which direction the hollow develops into a more deeply-cut drainage feature which eventually accommodates a stream issuing onto Cain's Strand 900 m away.  The topography of the hollow suggests that at one time several palaeo-channels once flowed into it from the east; one of these later accommodated the tail leat from the mill at East Lherghydhoo farm (see Record no 1775.00) which appears to have been disrupted by the construction of the Manx Northern Railway line which opened in 1879.  A more recent suggestion is that the site is an example of a 'courtyard farm', though this is not a type of site found in the Isle of Man.  The unusual name has also led to the suggestion that the site was of high status, perhaps even the location of a bishop's palace, though this too lacks confirmatory evidence.

This unusual site, known as The Court, is seen to best effect on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 large scale mapping published in 1870.  This shows a rectilinear enclosure occupying the north and west half of OS Field no. 1107, bounded by a wide ditch to the south, east and north.  To the west and north-west, the site is defined by the field boundary and a small stream or drainage channel which follows the line of the hedge.  The enclosed area measured about 100 by 110m, with a small, rectilinear extension about 20 by 30 m in the south-west corner.  Near the south side of the enclosure, the OS also depicts a square-topped mound about 20 m across.  All features are now substantially ploughed down and best seen on aerial photographs or LiDAR. The OS names the site 'The Court' using the standard pre-Norman antiquities script, though no dating evidence or artefacts are known.  It has been speculated that the site was some kind of fortification, but its location would tend to contradict the idea that it served a defensive purpose.  The site lies in a hollow and is overlooked on all sides except to the NNW, in which direction the hollow develops into a more deeply-cut drainage feature which eventually accommodates a stream issuing onto Cain's Strand 900 m away.

The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter.  OS Field No. 2112.

The findspot of an early prehistoric flint scatter.  OS Field No. 2111.

The site of a Bronze Age bowl barrow, where stone cists have been found in the past. It survives as a grass-covered, ditchless bowl barrow with a diameter of 17.0 metres and a height of 1.0 metres to the west. On top is an irregular stone slab, probably a capstone, measuring 1.4 metres by 1.2 metres by 0.2 metres thick.

Medieval burial ground. The existence of a burial ground in this area, known as the Crofts, was established in 1914 when a farmhand digging for sand found a lintel grave. Further graves were found in 1932 and the site was visited by W. Cubbon and J.R. Bruce representing the Manx Museum and Ancient Monuments inspectorate. By this time the area had become a considerable sandpit. Other burials had also been found since, according to the farmer, A.P. Collister, when interviewed by Bruce in 1965, though no details were given. These had evidently been found on the seaward (west) edge of the field. The area was officially inspected by the Museum director and J.R.Bruce in 1950 on behalf of the Surveyor-General of the Highway Board with a view to ascertaining the limits of the burial area. No surface indication was observed of any extension of the burial ground beyond the grave-sites already recognised. The sandpit where the burial was found in 1932 formed part of a farmyard, but is now filled in and part of landscaped grounds adjoining Beachcroft farm (as it is now called); the other burial-sites are no longer visible. The precise location of the burials cannot from the historical descriptions be traced on the ground today. The grid reference given is for indicative purposes only.

The conjectured site of a Neolithic Ronaldsway settlement. The area has produced finds of large numbers of flints, pottery, a cup-marked stone and a stone axehead from the vicinity of The Cronk, a mound to the north side of Lough Cranstal. The flints consisted of cores and chips, scrapers and flakes, an intact stone axehead 7.5 centimetres long by 5 centimetres broad and about a dozen flints with small notches. Ronaldsway type pottery included one smooth, grey urn and one bright red, rough urn with possible herring bone markings. A small cup marked stone of grey slate (0399.10), measuring 10 centimetres by 7.5 centimetres was also found. The Cronk is a large, rather shapeless, hillock which is apparently a natural sand mound of which there are several in the same field. It has been partially dug away and is now partly under grass and partly under the plough. There were no surface finds. Flint scrapers, including hump-backed scrapers were found in association with Ronaldsway pottery, but the material is unstratified.

A mound of early medieval date at Ballaqueeney.

Undated cairn. Two notes on an annotated map recording antiquarian observations retained at the Manx Museum imply the observation of a cairn at this location, and the presumption that it contained a burial. P.M.C. Kermode (Museum director 1925-32) wrote 'Cronk Cairn' and marked the site, whilst his successor W. Cubbon (director 1932-40) wrote 'Pile of stones "himself is underneath"' (the latter probably quotes a local farmer). Subsequent Ordnance Survey field workers recorded the site as an alleged feature which was probably natural, as it marks the termination of a low grass covered ridge running N-S.

A post-medieval corn mill shown on the 1869 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. It no longer exists.

The findspot of a Mesolithic flint scatter. It included microlithic cores and blades.

The site of a post-medieval lime kiln at The Cronk.

A mound of unknown significance.

A mound of unknown significance.

A scatter of Neolithic flint chips was recorded here in the late 19th century and documented by P.M.C. Kermode (1855-1932).

This burial mound was excavated during 1980-81 and found to contain burial cists and cremation burials. It lies just over 200 metres SSE of Crosh Mooar Cairn.  The mound is shown as a substantial earthwork on the OS 1:2500 of 1869. Amongst the finds was a food vessel.  This was found inverted over a cremation with a group of grave goods unique in the Isle of Man: these included bone bodkins, a pin and two toggles, a piece of copper from a knife or razor and two clay beads. (Manx Museum Accession No 84-151a). Cordoned sherds associated with a cremation burial were also found.  A unique, pressure-flaked, barbed, but not tanged, arrowhead was found nearby.

A grass covered ditchless mound elongated southeast to northwest and built up by 0.7 metres to form an almost level platform 3.5 metres wide x 7.0 metres long.  The mound is situated on land falling to the southwest.  No visible trace of a cross remains at the site. The Ordnance Survey marks this 'site of stone cross' but a Mr Crellin, who lived here all his days, says he never heard of an actual cross having been there though the place was always known locally as 'The Crosh' and it was supposed that the people assembled there in the old days to hear proclamations and announcements. Almost all crosses on the Isle of Man date to the period between the 6th and 13th centuries. They have nearly all been removed to churches or the museum.

The Crosh is a location in the parish of Lonan on the Isle of Man. The name derives from the Manx word for "cross", and the site may be connected to the ancient practice of summoning the militia by passing a wooden cross from neighbour to neighbour, or to one of the parish's numerous sites of early Christian significance.

Spirit of the sea-caves in Manx supernatural tradition. Part of Moore's classified taxonomy of the Manx supernatural world, which was not chaotic superstition but a named, categorised system. Every type of spirit had its Manx name, its characteristics, its locations, and its relationship to the human community.

A record for the cremation burial discovered in Garey Meen field, The Curragh in association with a Bronze Age barrow (0420.00).   The site was excavated by Philip Moore Callow Kermode (1855-1932), a leading Manx antiquarian, historian and naturalist, who founded the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society in 1879.

This Bronze Age barrow survives as a grass-covered, ditchless mound. It measures 23 metres in diameter and is up to 0.5 metres high, having been reduced by generations of ploughing activity. Antiquarian sources indicate that the barrow is located in a field called Garey Meen, near the Curragh to the East of the road leading from behind the old church to Ballacrye. Cremation urns were found here containing human ashes.

The low-lying wetland areas of the northern plain, a distinctive landscape of willow carr, marsh, and bog. The curragh appears in folklore as the haunt of the Phynnodderee, who cut the lubber-lub herb in the rushy curragh. The wetlands supported a particular way of life and a particular ecology, different from the hill farms and the coastal parishes. The curragh landscape is one of the features that makes the northern plain distinct from the rest of the Island.