Items

Balnygeay Burial Mound
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.
Balqueen Hydro Burial Cist
The site of a Bronze Age burial cist, recorded in the Balqueen area near Port St Mary (a locality that takes its name from the former Balqueen Hydro, a hydropathic establishment there). No further published excavation report, find details, or dating evidence beyond the basic HER record has been located.
Balqueen Hydro Flint Scatter
The findspot of a Mesolithic flint scatter.
Balqueen Hydro Flint Scatter
The findspot of a Mesolithic flint scatter.
Balqueen Hydro Lime Kiln
The site of a post-medieval lime kiln in the Balqueen area near Port St Mary. No further published detail on this kiln's construction, operation, or dating has been located beyond the basic HER record.
Balqueen Hydro Saw Mill
The site of a post medieval saw mill.
Balthane Bowl-shaped Hollows
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.
Balthane Bowl-shaped Hollows
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.
Balthane Bowl-shaped Hollows
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.
Bank Street House
A post-medieval house in Castletown.
Bankes Howe
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.
Banks Howe, Howstrake Watch and Ward Beacon
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
English Caribbean colony which appears alongside the Isle of Man in studies of resistance to the English Commonwealth after the execution of Charles I. In 1649 the abolition of the monarchy created problems well beyond England. A constitutional study published in 1929 grouped Manxmen with Jerseymen, Barbadians, Antiguans, Virginians, Scots and Irish people who accepted Charles II as the lawful monarch but resisted the authority of the new English republic. The comparison reflects the position of several territories in the crisis of 1649–1652. Barbados declared for Charles II and was eventually brought to terms by Commonwealth forces. Mann remained under the Stanley government until 1651, when Parliamentary forces arrived and the Island surrendered. The source uses Barbados and Mann as parallel examples within a wider argument about the authority claimed by the English Parliament over territories owing allegiance to the Crown. It does not suggest a direct political relationship between Barbados and Mann. The present evidence pack contains much general material on Barbados, but this is the clearest passage establishing its relevance to the Manx historical record.
Barcelona
Mediterranean trading centre which supplied goods entering the Isle of Man during the eighteenth-century running trade. By the 1750s Barcelona was one of the foreign sources feeding the Manx entrepôt. A contemporary account of smuggling from the Island stated that coarse Spanish brandy from Cette and Barcelona was being bought for about ten pence English per gallon and sold from Mann to smuggling boats for about eighteen pence. More than 4,000 gallons of such brandy were said to have been seized around Whitehaven in a single year. Barcelona silks and handkerchiefs also appear in the surviving records. In September 1764 an observer reported that the Lurcher cutter took aboard tea, china, brandy and fifteen dozen Barcelona silk handkerchiefs while at Mann. The same type of goods appears in Irish revenue material. In January 1765 John Wetherall described the “Isle Man package” used by revenue officers when identifying goods believed to have come from Mann, including tea, tobacco, spirits, Indian and Barcelona handkerchiefs and other foreign merchandise. After Revestment the trade changed sharply. In proposals to the Treasury, William Lutwidge reported that illicit trade had been largely extinguished. The foreign goods imported since the Crown acquired the Island included some Barcelona silks brought in before a later prohibition, together with wine and fruit from Spain.
Barclays Bank
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.
Barclays Bank Market Square Castletown IM9 1LQ
This building at 1 Market Square was designed by architect Thomas Brine and built by public subscription in 1830 on the site of the old 'Baby Tower', originally serving as public shambles or butchers' market with a covered ground floor of open arches sheltering market traders and a cool butter market beneath; the upper rooms briefly served as a Customs House and later as Assembly Rooms hosting the mid-20th-century Athol Club, complete with snooker tables and a reading room. Around 1889 the building became home to the Manx Bank, passing to Martin's Bank by the 1930s, and it has since housed Barclays Bank for over four decades, retaining its Georgian arcaded ground floor as a distinctive feature of Castletown's Market Square.
Barclays Bank, Castle Rushen
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.
Barnell
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.
Barnell
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.
Barnell
Prehistoric flint scatter. A small quantity of worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Barnell by CH Cowley, from the 'Road Field on Right near Top'. The description relates to the area near the junction with the Arrasey road, and the grid referecne is for indicative purposes only. 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.
Barnell Flint Scatter
The findspot of a collection of Neolithic artefacts including a stone axehead, arrowheads, scrapers, spearheadd and bevelers, including artefacts of Mesolithic Heavy Blade type and Neolithic character.   Cowley found groups of flints together under the turf which, he suggested, represented a working floor. Their character was indefinite but included a Bann 'missile-head'.
Barnell Glen Mound
A mound is visible in the field here and has been recorded but it is not known if it is a natural feature or an antiquity.
Barnell Glen, Barnell Reservoir Flint Site
An early prehistoric flint knife and flint flake have been recorded from the area around Barnell Reservoir and are kept in the Manx Museum in the Cowley Collection.
Baroose Cooking Place
The site of a possible late prehistoric burnt mound, reported as an area of burning 'in front of the farm'.
Baroose Cross Slab
The findspot of an early medieval cross-slab from Barroose, which was ploughed up by Mr Gelling, Barroose, circa 1959, about 20 metres from the east hedge and about 65 metres from the south hedge.  It is a roughly triangular slab of Manx slate, measuring 48 centimetres x 30 centimetres by 5 centimetres thick, with a crudely inscribed cross within an inscribed oval at the broad end of one face. It is now kept at the Manx Museum.