Ballig Well is a holy well in the parish of Onchan on the Isle of Man. It was traditionally said to rise and fall with the tide, a phenomenon attributed to magical or supernatural causes, and was classed alongside other wells on the Island believed to possess similar tidal properties.
The site of a very denuded barrow. It is a ditchless bowl barrow with a diameter of 25 metres and minimum height of 0.4 metres. It was under corn stubble when recorded and showed no heavier scattering of stones than does the surrounding ground. By its gentle slopes and topographical situation it is probably Bronze Age, not Viking, in date.
The cumulative recovery over several decades of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts, including a dozen stone axes, from Ballnahowe farm (PRN 0042, farmstead at SC19056845) and the Howe (PRN 0048, placename centred on Ordnance Survey First Edition 1:2500 map at SC19186810), would tend to suggest the presence of Neolithic settlement somewhere in the locality.
Modern watermill and associated water management.
The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869 shows a pair of roofless buildings at the grid reference provided.
The structures have been identified as a mill and a miller's house. The construction of a mill at Ballure was licensed in 1732. It was damaged by flooding and appears to have been abandoned by 1841, since no miller is recorded in the census for the area.
The mill stood very close to the watercourse and was served by a leat and tail race of only minimal length.
The area is now occupied by a modern pumping station.
Modern watermill.
The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869 shows a roofless building at the grid reference provided.
The structure has been identified as a mill. The construction of a mill at Ballure was licensed in 1732. It was damaged by flooding and appears to have been abandoned by 1841, since no miller is recorded in the census for the area.
The mill stood very close to the watercourse and was served by a leat and tail race of only minimal length.
The area is now occupied by a modern pumping station.
Modern miller's house.
The Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869 shows a roofless building at the grid reference provided.
The structure has been identified as a miller's house. The construction of a mill at Ballure was licensed in 1732. It was damaged by flooding and appears to have been abandoned by 1841, since no miller is recorded in the census for the area.
Little trace of the miller's house now survives and its site is now occupied by a modern pumping station.
A terrace of six houses, all of three storeys, constructed of masonry cement rendered with slate pitched roofs behind low parapets. Each has a two storey bay window (three faced) on one side of the main entrance which is marked by a low flat arch. There are moulded courses on the bays at first and second floor levels and also indicative of the roof level at the base of the parapet. The second floor windows above the entrance doorways are semi-circular headed. The terrace is known as Pink Terrace, because all the houses are traditionally painted pink. No internal inspection has been made. The houses appear to be in average repair. The building group would appear to have some local sentimental significance largely derived from the colour of the paint and the display of neighbourly co-operation. However when recorded one of the houses has just been repainted grey.
The site of the burial ground associated with an early medieval keeill or chapel, which would have been in use during the period circa AD500 to AD1000. The field is grass-covered and no visible trace of a chapel or burial ground enclosure remains.
In the 19th century the Ordnance Survey recorded that 'In a field to the immediate N. of Balnahow are pointed out the remains of an ancient Chapel and Burial Ground; the remains are very distinct, being (with the exception of a small portion of the enclosure) from two to three feet above ground. Numbers of stone-lined graves containing human bones have been turned up by the present tenant, Mr T Quinney'.
The findspot of a slab which has been numbered as Manx Cross No 95 (68). The Balnahow Cross is inscribed in relief and is a wheel-headed cross fragment with apparent Anglo-Saxon influence, probably from a keeill at Balnahow PRN 0763.30. It evidently had a portion below the head illustrated by Oswald in the 19th century with a rider and some rather irregular bunches of interlace. This portion of the stone is now missing but the irregularity of the interlace makes it possible to interpret the stone as Viking. The surviving fragment measures 49.5cm high with a maximum width of 25cm and a minimum width of 11.5cm. It is 5cm thick.
A broken cross-slab (Manx Cross number 68, renumbered 95) came from this early medieval keeill site. The broken head of the slab displays remains of a carved interlace cross patee within a circle and measures 52 centimetres x 25.4 centimetres x 12 centimetres. It is now kept in Santon parish church.
The site of an early medieval keeill or chapel, which would have been in use during the period circa AD500 to AD1000. The field is grass-covered and no visible trace of a chapel or burial ground enclosure remains.
In the 19th century the Ordnance Survey recorded that 'In a field to the immediate N. of Balnahow are pointed out the remains of an ancient Chapel and Burial Ground; the remains are very distinct, being (with the exception of a small portion of the enclosure) from two to three feet above ground. Numbers of stone-lined graves containing human bones have been turned up by the present tenant, Mr T Quinney'.
The remains of this keeill had been removed by the early 20th century. A former tenant who carted the remains away told P.M.C. Kermode that he had not known it was a keeill.
A broken cross-slab (Manx Cross number 68, renumbered 95) came from this site. It is now kept in the parish church.
This fragment was found at a chapel and burial ground on Balnahowe farm (IOMHER 0763.00). It consists of the broken head of a slab bearing the remains of a 'cross patt?e' within a ring of bead-moulding. Each limb is occupied by a triquetra knot. An early drawing shows the slab in a more complete condition with irregular interlace below the cross (a tiny part of which survives), partially framing a figure on horseback.
One of a number of prehistoric hut circles recorded on Mull Hill, below the stone circle. This hut circle is identified as Hut B (by Kermode & Herdman, 1914). The northeast half of the circle was described, with the majority of its stones prostrate. The largest erect stone is 0.5 metres high, 0.5 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick. It has a diameter of 4.0 metres and the thickness of the wall is 1.2 metres.
The circular foundations of 3 or 4 other huts measuring between 2.8 metres to 4.2 metres ( 8-12 feet) in diameter were seen, further to the east of the 'Lag-ny-Boirey' settlement.
A group of hut circles have been recorded in the area below the stone circle on Mull Hill. These hut foundations include two denuded hut circles which have not been built up. Hut circle is located at SC 19226774. This hut circle has been restored and there is clear evidence of the rearrangment of some of its erect stones, the largest of which is 0.8 metres high. It has a diameter of 3.5 metres, but no definable entrance. Thickness of the hut wall is 1.3 metres.
Lower down the hill and still further east are about six more hut foundations. Their outside diameters were 3.5 to 4.5 metres, and the stones forming them (about twelve to each circle) measured about 1.4 to 0.6 metres (4 foot by 2 foot) and projected up to 0.6 metres above the surface. They are unhewn blocks of Manx slate. Like the other huts these were also on the line of one of the 'ancient fences' and occupy a sheltered situation looking north. The site had a further advantage of being just above the spring known as 'Chibbyrt-ny-Garval', or Horse-well.
Indications of other hut foundations around the hill were seen but some were completely overgrown and lost. The remains are considered to belong to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age period with continuity into the Iron Age.
