Flints have been found here in association with a number of "pot boilers" or cooking sites, which have been interpreted as being representative of a settlement occupied during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.
A total of thirteen Neolithic flint and stone axeheads have been recovered from Ballnahowe farm over the course of several decades between the 1930s and the 1960s, and donated to the Manx Museum. Ten of the axes were found by the Nixon family who farmed the land, and three by JR Bruce, a trustee of the Manx Museum and National Trust.
Several of the axes show the roughened butt finish characteristic of local later Neolithic manufacture.
The precise findspot is unknown, and the grid reference is centred on the farmstead.
The site of a Bronze Age burial mound, which is shown as a "Tumulus" on the 1869 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. P.M.C. Kermode includes this site in his List of Manx Antiquities (No.28). The site survives as an earthwork feature. It has a diameter of 14.0 metres and a height in the NE quadrant of 1.1 metre.
The site of a Bronze Age burial mound, which is shown as a "Tumulus" on the 1869 1:2500 scale Ordnance Survey map. P.M.C. Kermode includes this site in his List of Manx Antiquities (No.28). The site survives as an earthwork feature. It has a diameter of 14.0 metres and a height in the NE quadrant of 1.1 metres.
One of two bowl-shaped hollows, possibly surface quarries or natural features, have been variously described as being 45 metres, or perhaps 12 metres in diameter, and 1.2 metres deep, situated 140 metres from each other on Balthane (Abbey Demense). They appeared to be 'ancient' and the nearest parallel is a series of bowl-shaped hollows on Dreemlang.
The hollows were visited by W.C. Cubbon on 12th May 1932. It is recorded that 'In 1944 (sic) the deep circular hollow south of Balthane farm buildings (SC 282697) was needlessly destroyed by the military authorities'. The site is now built over within the Freeport area.
Two bowl-shaped hollows, possibly surface quarries or natural features, have been variously described as being 45 metres, or perhaps 12 metres, in diameter and 1.2 metres deep, situated 140 metres from each other on Balthane (Abbey Demense). They appeared to be 'ancient' and the nearest parallel is a series of bowl-shaped hollows on Dreemlang.
The hollows were visited by W.C. Cubbon on 12th May 1932. It is recorded that 'In 1944 (sic) the deep circular hollow south of Balthane farm buildings (SC 282697) was needlessly destroyed by the military authorities'. The site is now built over within the Freeport area.
One of two bowl-shaped hollows, possibly surface quarries or natural features, have been variously described as being 45 metres, or perhaps 12 metres in diameter, and 1.2 metres deep, situated 140 metres from each other on Balthane (Abbey Demense). They appeared to be 'ancient' and the nearest parallel is a series of bowl-shaped hollows on Dreemlang.
The hollows were visited by W.C. Cubbon on 12th May 1932. It is recorded that 'In 1944 (sic) the deep circular hollow south of Balthane farm buildings (SC 282697) was needlessly destroyed by the military authorities'. The site is now built over within the Freeport area.
Modern gun battery.
A gun battery was constructed at Bankes' Howe in 1797, as part of a wider response to the threat posed by foreign privateers to the Island's coastline and its shipping. It was designed specifically to defend Onchan harbour, a sheltered open beach used mainly by fishing craft, and was part of a wider network of batteries protecting Douglas Bay.
The Bankes' Howe battery was designed for two 18-pounder cannon supplied by the British Ordnance Board. The battery platform was described as unserviceable by 1803, and despite repairs a further report in 1805 decribed most of the coastal batteries as not 'of much service for the general defence of the Island.' By 1812, the coastal cannon were reportedly unusable because of neglect and exposure.
The earthwork parapet can still be seen.
Medieval and Modern lookout.
An early 17th century manuscript in the Castle Rushen Papers records, on a parish-by-parish basis, an arrangement whereby a coastal watch was kept for potentially unfriendly shipping. It has been suggested by BRS Megaw (director of the Manx Museum 1940-57) that this system of 'watch and ward' had its origins in Norse times (1941), whilst more recently Johnson (2002) has proposed that promontory forts reoccupied during the medieval period formed part of the system.
The document lists 'hills of the day watch', and of the two for the parish of Onchan one is recorded as Howe (modern Howstrake), and the warden recorded in 1627 as Thomas Banks. Banks' Howe is an alternative historical name for Howestrake.
The summit of the Howe lies at the grid reference provided, and is marked by a trigonometric pillar. No obvious feature has been identified which might indicate that a structure of some kind formerly stood in the vicinity. The hilltop and surrounding area are now occupied by a golfcourse.
In 1627, the port for the night watch (from which sentries listened for signs of nightime activity) was at the nearby Port Conchan (modern Onchan Harbour), for which the warden was likewiseThomas Banks.
Barbados is a Caribbean island that was a British colony from the seventeenth century. It featured in the Atlantic trading networks that connected the Isle of Man with the wider British colonial world, and Manx people had commercial and occasionally personal connections with the West Indian sugar islands.
Barcelona is a major port city on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. It formed part of the extensive European trading network with which the Isle of Man had connections during the eighteenth century, when Manx vessels and merchants traded across the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds.
Modern commercial building.
The earliest elements of this structure preserve remains of a 16th century tower forming part of the outer defences of Castle Rushen (see PRN 0080.61). The property is currently in use as a bank (Barclays Bank).
The structure is protected under the terms of the Town and Country Planning Act 1999. It was placed on the protected buildings register on the 3rd February 1984, and is Registered Building No 30.
The following is quoted from the documentation accompanying the registration inscription:
The two storey building is of stone with a curved front wall following the street line and amending its otherwise rectangular plan form. The facade treatment applied to the two visible elevations (being an end terrace) is best described as strange. The semi-circular headed openings of the ground floor windows and door produce a very squat proportion. The lower portion of the window and below the sill has exposed stonework (cut regular blocks), the arch itself has exposed brick (with no keystones) and the surround to the arch being roughcast outside a thin cement rendered moulding. The windows of the second floor are rectangular of more slender proportion located above their counterparts on the floor below but this level is marked by parallel string courses (below sill and above head) which give a horizontal direction vying with the vertical elements of this floor and the neutral elements at street level. Seemingly adopting a defensive attitude the parapet is sculpted into battlements which pay lip service to the adjacent castle. No interior inspection was made. There is no doubt that the building enjoys a prominent location of civic importance. Moreover as the old Custom House and Market Hall there are clear historic overtones to the building itself. It is not known however whether the original building suffered from such a paucity of architectural resolution. At the risk of seeming biased it is felt that the building represents as strong a statement of indecision as is unfortunately possible on so distinguished a site.
Post medieval tower.
Originally round-fronted, this 16th century tower would have served as a strongpoint defending the western terminal of the counterscarp and glacis. It was later used as the customs house, more recently as a market and latterly as a bank.
Prehistoric flint scatter.
A single worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Barnell by CH Cowley, from 'above Reservoir Right Bank of Stream'.
The description would appear to relate to OS plot 0307, which is centred at the grid reference provided.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
Prehistoric flint scatter.
A small quantity of worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Barnell by CH Cowley, from the 'Hospital Field'.
The description relates to OS Plot 1401, which is centred at the grid reference provided.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
