When the Vikings invaded the Island circa 1000 BC, they kinda liked the place and decided to stay. They integrated with the local populace, who were a pretty miserable lot in those days, scratching a living from the land and sea, and the Vikings set about organizing the place on Scandinavian lines and creating a Parliament , that still exists today....the longest , continuous parliament in the world. The Celtic/Scandinavian mix produced a race that I am very proud to belong to ....the Manx.
Well, the Vikings faded into history and the next few hundred years saw the Scottish and English kings squabbling over ownership of the Island ....the successful claimants at any one time calling themselves the Kings of Mann. Around about 1400, English rule ceased on Mann when, the then King of England, Henry IV, gave the Island to one Sir John Stanley, the Duke of Derby, for the rental of two falcons to be given to any future monarch on their Coronation Day. I reckon Sir John got a bargain. The Stanleys ' owned ' the Island for the next 300 years but rarely visited the place, preferring their big estates in England to our soggy , little Island. The Dukes of Atholl took over about 1700 , again absentee landlords , and the Island slumbered on, albeit, with quite a lot of smuggling on the side, doing the pesky English out of a lot of their Custom duty, until it became a Crown dependency in early Victorian times. A Governor was appointed as the monarch's representative ....but the Island retained it's right to govern and raise it's own revenue. Incidentally, the rental of two falcons remained up to the Queen Victoria's coronation....more of an old custom than actual rent , by then . The names, Stanley, Derby and Atholl are quite common place names on the Island today.
By the way, , the word Viking comes from the old Norse word ' vikigj ' meaning pirate, which is exactly what they were , pirates, who loved raiding and looting.
This is a very, very potted version of how the Manx evolved, pretty boring , on the whole , but there again , someone may read this and find it of interest .
Great to hear from you again....and thanks for your comments....greatly appreciated. Now I know that I have got a least one visitor to my little site [ apart from myself, that is , ha. ha! ] I will try and make the content a bit more interesting in the future. I have a fund of stories and a mountain of photos of the Island. .....and I can always fall back on my friendly local photographer for a picture or two from his site.......saves me going out and getting wet and tramping around the countryside . And talking of wet, that is all it has been here of late...wet, wet, wet, and when it hasn't been wet it has been pouring with rain.!!...[ t'eh ceau .....in Manx Gaelic ] I am sure this little lump of rock is sinking into the sea!!
I have some on line friends who I contact regularly ..... one from Ca. one from Louisiana, one from Wi. and one from Mi. .....the latter two both having Manx grandparents who left the Island for the States ....[ Quayle and Kelly ] .......sounds familiar !!.
Anyway, keep tuned in to this site and feel free to give the blog address to any other family members who you think may be interested . You never know, someone else may add a comment or two......wow!....fame at last ! ...By the way, pictures should enlarge with a double click. .
Bit of a contrast to the previous pictures. This one is of a more peaceful scene of Peel sea front,. taken the other day by my friendly local photographer. The groyne was built to stop the sand on the beach being washed away by the action of the tides. The original structure was of wood and concreted over maybe 100 years ago. I have a small piece of wood from the old groyne when it was exposed some years ago for repair work to the concrete. Why? I don't know. I tend to collect useless things !!!! Similarly, the Peel breakwater was a wooden structure in the 1800's and the present day breakwater was built around this, probably around the 1880's.
Sorry, this picture seems to have disappeared into the wild blue yonder .[ See 'Oops ' the final post on this blog ]
The usually sheltered waters of Peel Bay can be transformed , in the advent of any North or North Eastern storms in the area. The breakwater protects the harbour to some extent [ the very reason why it was built in the first place ] but the seas can be very spectacular, especially at high water. I took these pictures in March, this year....March and September being the months that these storms can occur. On the subject of the sea, they are , at present converting the upper harbour at Peel into a multi million pound Marina. I , as are many others, are not exactly in favour of all this, not for the obvious economic gain that a Marina may bring but for a more practical reason. The harbour used to dry out, twice a day originally, with clean sea water flooding in as the tide rose and flushing out the harbour as the water ebbed. Now it is just a muddy expanse of water held back by a water retention barrier with access to the harbour reduced even further . Progress? I don't think so !
As I add items to this blog, earlier posts drop off this page and are entered on to a second or further pages. These can be opened by clicking on ' older posts ' at the bottom of the current page and then return to this page by selecting ' home '. Pictures can be enlarged by a double click and saved to file and printed , if you want .
This joke always makes me smile.....don't worry, it's not rude. The elephants and jungle bugs had a football match [ soccer for any American readers ] During the first half the elephants were all over the bugs and by half time the score was 20 goals for the elephants and none for the bugs. . The bugs made a substitution and brought on Charlie the centipede for the second half. Well, Charlie was up and down the field, banging in goal after goal and at full time the bugs had won by 30 goals to 20. The elephant captain congratulated the captain of the bug team on their win and asked why they hadn't brought Charlie the centipede on sooner, ' Well, it's like this ,' said the bug captain , ' we would have done so, but it takes him all of the first half to put his boots on!' .....................Go on, smile !
The Cushag [ Manx Gaelic ] is the Isle of Man's National Flower...a bright yellow flowered plant of the ragwort family. How on earth did the intelligent, forward looking Manx choose for their national flower, an invasive, toxic weed that chokes up fields and can be fatal to animals if eaten . It grows wild everywhere on the Island and in the UK there are constant programs to eradicate the pesky plant. But not in the Isle of Man...it was chosen to be the Manx National Flower. So how come? The following story is true !
Many, many years ago, the 24 wise men we had in Government at that time , were debating long into the night, the choice of a plant to be the Manx National Flower. These Isle of Man worthies, probably all suffering from the dreaded Manx affliction of...traa dy liooar....discussed and debated the pros and cons of numerous plants and flowers without reaching any decision .
Eventually, one guy, obviously fed up to the back teeth with the whole business, and probably wanting to get home, remarked sarcastically and jokingly , ' Why not choose the cushag as our flower. It grows everywhere on the Island.'
They all must have thought this a grand idea and promptly voted this yellow weed as the flower of the Isle of Man. In those far off days perhaps they were not fully conversant with the toxic qualities of this plant....or perhaps they all just wanted to go home ! I don't know, but as I said, this story is true.
Anyway, America and England both have the Rose as their flower. Wales has the Daffodil, Canada the Maple leaf , Ireland the Shamrock and France has le fleur de lis....the Lily , and the Isle of Man has some pesky, invasive , yellow , toxic weed . Ye gods !!
Just a few facts about the Isle of Man for those who may have an interest. The Isle of Man [ Ellan Vannin ] is self governing with 24 elected members [ yn kiare as feed.... the twentyfour ] and comprise the House of Keys. Many are in charge of different Government departments, responsible to the Chief Minister. The Manx Government is known as the Tynwald, a name that comes from the Viking words thing [assembly] and vollr [field ] ....[Thingvollr....meeting or assembly field ] The Vikings who invaded and settled here 1000 years ago, set up the original assembly and so it has continued without a break to the present day. The Isle of Man has the longest , continuously running Parliament in the world . Indeed, the Government still meet , once a year on 5th July, in a field and sit on an artificial earthen mound to conduct business. It is largely ceremonial but still classed as an official sitting of the Island's parliament . If 5 July falls on a weekend, Tynwald Day, as it is known, is held on the Monday. Huh , our MHK's don't sit at weekends. Tynwald Day, 5th July, is the Isle of Man's National day .
The Government is responsible for the good running and financing of all the Island services. That is, free health and education , social security and postal and police services, harbours , public transport , forestry and many others. The free Isle of Man National Health Service is run on similar lines to that of the UK but we finance it entirely .....and a first class service it as , as well . I don't think we do too badly for such a small place with no help from the UK and the EU. I know this bit of info may be boring to some , but there again it may be of interest to others.
The Three Legs of Man is an ancient sun sign ...Triskele,.... similar to the Three Legs of Sicily and the Swastika, which is also an ancient sun sign but has four legs and was adopted by the Nazi's. The Island first used the Triskele about 700/800 years ago as the National emblem though they dressed up the original design in armour.....the Sicilians left their legs bare......probably warmer down there !!!
More trivia another time .
