Isle of Man
Ellan Vannin: a self-governing Crown Dependency in the middle of the Irish Sea, about 85,000 people, not part of the United Kingdom and never part of the European Union. It has its own parliament, Tynwald, which still promulgates its laws outdoors on a mound at St John's every July, and whose surviving record begins in 1417 rather than in the 979 that gets quoted. It has its own Celtic language, Gaelg, which was written down using a spelling system borrowed from Elizabethan English, was declared dead by UNESCO in 2009 while hundreds of people spoke it, and is now taught to children at the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh. Norse kings ruled here for centuries and left runic crosses instead of portraits. The island gave some women the vote in 1881, and the restriction on that came from the unelected chamber, not the elected one. It held twenty thousand civilians behind barbed wire at Knockaloe in one war and interned Jewish refugees as enemy aliens in the next. It has the oldest motorcycle race in the world and a mountain course that has killed more people than anyone officially counts. And it has a wheel, a herring fleet, an electric railway, a tailless cat and a folklore in which you greet the fairies on the way past.
A chronological documentary of 1,174 moments spanning 1830–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-03
Eras
- Tynwald, The parliament and the ceremony. Tynwald claims to be the oldest continuous parliament in the world, and that claim survives only on the word continuous: Iceland's Althing is older, founded in 930, but was disbanded in 1800 and restored in 1845. The traditional date of 979 has no documentary support and appears to have been chosen so that a millennium could be celebrated in 1979; the earliest surviving House of Keys record is 1417. What is not in doubt is the practice: laws are still promulgated outdoors in Manx and English on Tynwald Hill at St John's every July. Also the Revestment of 1765, the Lord of Mann, the deemsters, and the 1881 Act that gave some women the vote, where the elected House of Keys wanted to go further than the appointed Legislative Council allowed.
- Stones, What the deep past actually left: megalithic tombs like Cashtal yn Ard and King Orry's Grave, the Meayll stone circle, the keeills that are early Christian chapels, and above all the Manx runic crosses and cross slabs, which carry Norse names and Norse myth cut into Christian monuments. This is where the Viking centuries live, because no contemporary image of any king of Mann exists and no honest archive can invent one. Also Castle Rushen and Peel Castle, Rushen Abbey, and the excavations that produced the Viking burials and the silver hoards.
- Land, Inland and agricultural: the glens, Snaefell and North Barrule, the curraghs, sod hedges and stone walls, the upland and the farms. The Manx Loaghtan, the native four-horned sheep, and Cregneash, the crofting village kept as a working museum. Also the Manx cat, which is a genuine and documented mutation of the Brachyury gene rather than a tourist invention, but which carries Manx syndrome, a real spinal welfare problem that an honest archive shows alongside the charm.
- The Season, From the 1870s the island sold itself to industrial Lancashire and Yorkshire as a holiday, and for a century that was the economy. Steam Packet paddle steamers into Douglas, boarding houses along the promenade, the Gaiety Theatre, the Villa Marina, Derby Castle, wakes weeks, deckchairs and the camera obscura. Then the collapse when cheap flights to Spain arrived, and what the island became instead. The Summerland fire of 2 August 1973, in which fifty people died at the Douglas leisure complex, belongs to this segment and is handled soberly.
- Folklore, Labelled as folklore throughout, never as fact. Manannan mac Lir, the sea god who shrouds the island in mist and may or may not have given it its name. The Moddey Dhoo, the black dog of Peel Castle, first written down in the 1700s. The Buggane, the Phynnodderee, and the Fairy Bridge at Ballalonna where you greet the Little People as you pass. The taboo words, including the one for rat. Hop tu Naa with its turnip lanterns rather than pumpkins, Yn Chruinnaght, the Manx Folk Awards, and the traditional music and dance that came back with the language.
- Racing, The Isle of Man TT and the Manx Grand Prix. The race began in 1907 on the St John's Short Course and moved to the 37 and three quarter mile Snaefell Mountain Course in 1911, which is a public road closed for the occasion and has never been a purpose-built circuit. Held to roughly a tenth of this archive on purpose, because the island is not a racetrack. On the deaths, which are real and heavily quoted: the large published figure covers the entire Mountain Course including the Manx Grand Prix and the Clubman TT rather than the TT alone, the lists separate competitors from officials, marshals and spectators, and no organisation maintains an authoritative count. This archive states scope rather than a bare number, and carries the memorials rather than the crashes.
- Internment, Twice in the twentieth century Britain interned civilians on this island. Knockaloe near Peel held on the order of twenty thousand men in the First World War and was effectively a town. In the Second World War the camps were requisitioned boarding houses with wire around them: Rushen at Port Erin and Port St Mary, which was the women's camp and unlike anything else in the system; Hutchinson in Douglas, which became known as the artists' camp and held Kurt Schwitters and Hellmuth Weissenborn among others; and Mooragh, Central Promenade and Peveril. Many of those interned as enemy aliens were Jewish refugees who had fled Nazism, which is the fact the whole subject turns on. The Arandora Star, carrying internees for deportation, was torpedoed in July 1940. Treated here as documentary record, never as spectacle.
- Gaelg, The Manx language, the largest segment in this archive because it is the island's most distinctive thing and because Manx speakers have put a great deal of it online themselves. Gaelg is a Goidelic language, sister to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, written with a spelling system based on Elizabethan English rather than classical Gaelic orthography, which is why it looks so unlike its relatives on the page. Ned Maddrell, the last native speaker from a Manx-speaking community, died on 27 December 1974. In 2009 UNESCO classified the language as extinct while hundreds of people spoke it, the linguist Jennifer Kewley Draskau objected publicly, and the classification was later revised to critically endangered. Around 2,223 people reported conversational ability in 2021, and the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at St John's teaches children through the medium of Manx.
- Railways, An unusual survival: the island kept its Victorian transport when everywhere else scrapped it. The Isle of Man Steam Railway still runs steam to Port Erin, the Manx Electric Railway has been working since the 1890s with original tramcars, the Snaefell Mountain Railway climbs to the summit, and the Douglas horse tramway still runs along the promenade. Also the Groudle Glen Railway, the stations and sheds, and the rolling stock that would be in a museum anywhere else and is in daily service here.
- Mining, Lead, zinc, silver and copper, and the engineering that drained the workings. The Great Laxey Wheel, Lady Isabella, built in 1854 to pump water from the Laxey mines and still the largest working waterwheel in the world. Foxdale, the Snaefell mine, the adits and engine houses and washing floors, the mine railway, and the spoil that is still in the landscape. For a few decades in the nineteenth century this small island was a serious producer of zinc ore.
- Coast, The sea on every side, and the wildlife that comes with it. The Calf of Man and its bird observatory, Manx shearwaters, choughs, razorbills and kittiwakes, basking sharks in summer, seals, the Sound, Langness, the Point of Ayre, Spanish Head and the Chicken Rock lighthouse. The whole island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the only entire jurisdiction to hold that status. Also Raad ny Foillan, the coastal path that goes all the way round, and the herring fishery that the island lived on before it lived on visitors.
- Music, Added after the first build, because music had been scattered through folklore and language and deserved a home. Manx traditional song and tune, much of it sung in Gaelg: Arrane Oie Vie and the carvals, the island's own carol tradition. The dance sides Perree Bane and Ny Fennee, and Yn Chruinnaght, the inter-Celtic festival where the island meets Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. Fiddle, harp and the Manx bagpipe revival, sessions in pubs, the choirs and the Manx Music Festival that everyone calls the Guild, and the Manx Folk Awards where the children compete. Then the living end of it: Ruth Keggin singing in Manx, and Davy Knowles from Port St Mary playing blues. Culture Vannin has put more of this online than anyone, which is why so much of this segment comes from them.
- - Some Faery Encounters in Manx Song & Rhyme: A talk by Annie Kissack RBV. A talk by Annie Kissack on faery encounters in Manx song and rhyme. The songs draw on folklore rather than record.
- - Arraneyn Tradishoonagh Manninagh - Ruth Keggin Gell. Ruth Keggin is among the leading current singers in Manx Gaelic (Gaelg).
- - 🎵 Manx Gaelic Rock Song - Manannan mac Lir | Protector of the Isle of Man | Celtic Myth | Subtitled. Manannan mac Lir is the sea god of Manx legend, said to shroud the island in mist. This is folklore, not history.
- - The story of 'Arrane Ghelbee'. Culture Vannin is the trading name of the Manx Heritage Foundation, established by the Isle of Man Government in 1982, and employs a Manx Language Development Officer.
- - 'Kirree Veg' by Thurrick (Winner of Arrane son Mannin 2025). Arrane son Mannin is the island's Manx-language song contest, which commissions new songwriting in Gaelg.
- - 🎵 Flam Boaldyn - The Fire of Summer’s Return | MANX GAELIC | Celtic Song | Isle of Man | Subtitled. A song on Boaldyn, the Manx May festival marking the start of summer.
- - Arrane y Voirrey [Manx Folk Awards 2025]. The Manx Folk Awards are the island's competitive festival for young performers of Manx music, song and dance.
- - WOW ! - Crystal Singing Bowls call in Dolphins and Seals - Sunrise Sound Bath Session - Isle of Man. Informal sessions are where the Manx tune repertoire is actually passed on, in pubs and at gatherings rather than on concert stages.
- - Arrane ny Niee [Manx Folk Awards 2025]. The Manx Folk Awards are the island's competitive festival for young performers of Manx music, song and dance.
- - Co-Whaiyl ny Gaeil. ', a gathering conducted in Manx Gaelic. Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh, the Manx Language Society, was founded in 1899, before native transmission of the language had ended.
- - Gaelg er Radio Vannin - Bob Carswell. Bob Carswell on Gaelg on Radio Vannin, Manx-language broadcasting on the island's airwaves. Manx-language radio is one of the few places the language is heard by a general audience.
- - Skeealyn Vannin Story. The story of Skeealyn Vannin, the published collection of Manx language and dialect archive recordings of the island's last native speakers.
- - Year of the Manx Language: Coraaghyn yn Aile song project. The Coraaghyn yn Aile song project, part of the 2026 Year of the Manx Language. The Isle of Man Government set a target of 5,000 Manx speakers within a decade in its 2022 language strategy.
- - Manx Mass / Erin Gaelgagh [Manx Gaelic subtitles]. A Mass celebrated in Manx Gaelic, with Gaelg subtitles. The Manx Bible of 1775, translated under Bishops Thomas Wilson and Mark Hildesley, gave the language its standard written form.
- - "Miss Morrison at the Wheel": Sophia Morrison & the Manx language revival. A talk on Sophia Morrison and the Manx language revival. Morrison was a central figure in the collecting of Manx folklore and language at the turn of the twentieth century.
- - Conservation and Restoration of the Great Laxey Wheel: Webinar 2026. A Manx National Heritage webinar on the conservation and restoration of the Great Laxey Wheel. The wheel has required repeated structural work; it was built in 1854 and has been maintained as a monument since the mines closed.
- - Going underground on the Isle of Man with the Great Laxey Mines Railway & Railtrail. Going underground on the Great Laxey Mines Railway. The line was built to move ore and men within the mine, and the restored section runs into the hillside through a driven adit.
- - Laxey Wheel - They Called a 72-Foot Waterwheel "Engineering Insanity", It's Pumped for 171 Years. The Great Laxey Wheel, 72 feet 6 inches in diameter. It was built in 1854 to pump floodwater from the Glen Mooar workings up to the Main Adit, which carried the water out to the Laxey River and the sea.
- - Exploring the Groudle Glen and Great Laxey Mine Railway. Exploring the Groudle Glen Railway and the Great Laxey Mine Railway. Both are narrow gauge lines built for different purposes, Groudle for Victorian visitors and Laxey for ore.
- - Pump Rod Viaduct, Lady Isabella, the Great Laxey Wheel. The pump rod viaduct carrying the rod from Lady Isabella to the mine shaft. The wheel turned the rod along this viaduct to drive the pumps that kept the Great Laxey Mines dry.
- - lIve Tynwald day 2026. Tynwald Day 2026 broadcast live from Tynwald Hill at St John's (Balley Keeill Eoin). Laws are promulgated in both Manx and English, and an Act of Tynwald not promulgated at St John's within eighteen months of passage becomes null and void, so the open-air ceremony is a condition of legal validity.
- - Agenda 23.6.26 - assisted dying legislation moved a step closer in June Tynwald … probably?. Manx Radio's Agenda on assisted dying legislation before Tynwald. The island legislates for itself on domestic matters as a Crown Dependency, and its assisted dying bill proceeded independently of Westminster.
- - Net-zero policy on the Tynwald agenda today with motion calling for a referendum. A Tynwald motion calling for a referendum on net zero policy. The island holds UNESCO Biosphere status covering all its land and territorial sea, awarded in 2016, which its environmental policy debates repeatedly return to.
- - Perspective 28.6.26 - another look at a very busy June Tynwald. Manx Radio's Perspective reviews the June 2026 Tynwald sitting. Tynwald Court sits monthly, with the annual open-air sitting at Tynwald Hill on Tynwald Day, normally 5 July.
- - The Isle Of Man Holiday - August 2025. A visitor's record of an August holiday on the island. August is Manx Grand Prix month, the amateur and classic meeting over the Mountain Course, and a quieter counterpart to the June TT.
- - IoM TV archive: Friend or Foe?: internment exhibition: 27.7.2016. An archive report on the 'Friend or Foe?' internment exhibition of 2016. The Rushen Heritage Trust researches and publishes on the women's camp at Port Erin and Port St Mary.
- - A Manx Christmas Ghost Story
- - Isle of Man Walk 4K - Douglas Quay & Promenade 🇮🇲. A walk along Douglas quay and promenade. The Loch Promenade frontage was built in the Victorian boom, when the island's visitor trade rested on steamer arrivals from Liverpool, Fleetwood and Heysham.
- - Perspective 2.8.26 - the second of our Perspectives on July’s bumper Tynwald sitting. Perspective on the July 2026 Tynwald sitting. Tynwald's continuity claim rests on the word continuous: Iceland's Althing was founded earlier, in 930, but was disbanded in 1800 and restored in 1845.
- - Perspective 24.5.26 - Health, Brownfield Sites and Cannabis were just some of the May Tynwald hig.... Perspective on health, brownfield sites and cannabis at the May 2026 Tynwald. The island sets its own domestic law and taxation; the United Kingdom is responsible only for its defence and international representation.
- - The Calf of Man | An Island shaped by Nature and Legend. The Calf of Man (Yn Cholloo), the small island half a mile off the south west coast, in nature and in legend. It is a nature reserve and bird observatory run by Manx National Heritage, where around 33 species of seabird breed.
- - EPISODE TWO: Visit Isle of Man x Alfie Watts: The Great Isle of Man Challenge. An episode of the tourism board's Great Isle of Man Challenge series. Visit Isle of Man is the island's official tourism body, and much of the promotional superlative language attached to the island's attractions originates with it.
- - Scran live in concert at Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering 2025. The band Scran in concert at Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering in 2025. Yn Chruinnaght is the island's inter-Celtic festival, connecting Manx tradition with Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish and Breton counterparts.
- - The Forgotten Inferno: Summerland Fire Disaster That Killed 50 in Minutes (1973). A documentary on the Summerland fire of 2 August 1973 at Douglas (Doolish). Fifty people died and about eighty were seriously injured when the leisure centre burned during the summer season. The figure was arrived at slowly: the fire brigade first recorded 51, revised it to 48, and two more people later died in hospital, which is why other tolls still circulate.
- - Perspective 15.3.26 - highlights from March Tynwald. Perspective on the March 2026 Tynwald. The island's fiscal structure includes a zero standard rate of corporate income tax with higher rates for specified sectors, set by Tynwald rather than by Westminster.
- - Caggey as Graih: A Manx song by 'Sy Vagher. 'Caggey as Graih' performed by 'Sy Vagher. New songs continue to be written and performed in Manx, which is why the language is described as living rather than as a museum object.
- - Perspective 25.1.25 - January’s reshuffle Tynwald. Perspective on the January 2025 reshuffle Tynwald. The Chief Minister is elected by the members of Tynwald rather than appointed by the Crown, and appoints departmental ministers from among them.
- - Perspective 21.6.26 - from assisted dying to horse trams June Tynwald was quite busy. Perspective on a June 2026 Tynwald ranging from assisted dying to the horse trams. The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, which the tourism body describes as the world's oldest horse-drawn tramway, is publicly owned and its future is a recurring Tynwald question.
- - A Hidden Glen Walk to the Sea | Ballaglass Glen to Port Cornaa (Isle of Man). A walk through Ballaglass Glen to the sea at Port Cornaa. Ballaglass is one of the island's national glens, wooded ravines running down to the coast.
- - A life-changing song for Douglas Buxton - showbusiness at the Falcon Cliff Hotel - and a mystery .... Manx Radio on entertainment at the Falcon Cliff Hotel. Falcon Cliff was requisitioned as a hospital during the Second World War internment period, one of many Douglas hotels taken over by the state.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 17 MARCH POD. Countryside for March 2026. The programme covers the island's livestock, arable and horticultural sectors through the farming year.
- - Agenda 12.1.26 - elections in the Falklands and inappropriate references to Tynwald members. Agenda on elections in the Falkland Islands and references to Tynwald members. The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency rather than an Overseas Territory, a different constitutional category with its own legislature and fiscal autonomy.
- - A couple of tourism trailblazers plus memories of the Derby Castle - and a Guild recordbreaker!. Manx Radio on tourism pioneers and memories of the Derby Castle. Derby Castle at the north end of Douglas promenade was a Victorian entertainment complex and is now the terminus of the Manx Electric Railway.
- - Agenda 27.4.26 - last week Tynwald debated the idea of a tourism levy and agreed to sell the old .... Tynwald debates a tourism levy and the sale of a government building. Tourism has been an object of Manx policy since the Victorian steamer trade, and the island's visitor economy is still shaped by legislation rather than left to itself.
- - The Viking Burial Above Ancient Christian Graves | Isle of Man. A Viking burial found above earlier Christian graves. The island's Norse period produced a hybrid Norse-Gaelic society rather than a simple occupation, which is exactly what the stone crosses and the burial record show.
- - Emergency Doors Were Chained Shut. The Summerland Disaster. Human Narration. A Disaster Documentary. A documentary on the Summerland disaster of 2 August 1973, the island's deadliest peacetime fire. Fifty people died at the Douglas (Doolish) leisure complex. The inquiry returned a verdict of misadventure and blamed no individual, but condemned the delay in evacuation and the building's flammable materials.
- - Countryside - 14th July 2026. Countryside for July 2026. Manx agriculture is small in scale but politically significant, with land use decisions made by Tynwald rather than by any outside authority.
- - Perspective 10.5.26 - National security & the climate & nature crisis I. A discussion of national security and the climate and nature crisis. The island holds UNESCO Biosphere status across its entire land area and territorial sea, awarded in 2016.
- - Exploring amazing Viking burials on the Isle of Man. Viking burials on the Isle of Man. The Norse period ran roughly from the ninth century to 1265, ending with Magnus Olafsson, the last Norse king of Mann, and the Treaty of Perth of 1266 which ceded Mann and the Hebrides to Scotland.
- - The Caliburn Isle of Man Darts Festival 2026 - ParaDarts Live Finals from The Villa Marina Douglas. The ParaDarts finals of the 2026 Isle of Man Darts Festival at the Villa Marina in Douglas. The Villa Marina is the island's principal civic entertainment venue and a survival of the Victorian and Edwardian holiday trade.
- - I Found a 6000 Year Old Burial Site by Accident | Isle of Man Walk. A walk that comes across a burial site some 6,000 years old. Neolithic chambered tombs on the island include Cashtal yn Ard, King Orry's Grave, the Meayll Circle and the Ballaharra Stones at St John's.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 10 FEBRUARY 2026. Countryside for February 2026. Winter feeding, lambing preparation and livestock health dominate the Manx farming calendar at this point in the year.
- - Rushen Abbey to Silverdale walk. A walk from Rushen Abbey to Silverdale. The abbey ruins at Ballasalla are managed by Manx National Heritage and mark the island's principal medieval monastic site.
- - Perspective 3.5.26 - Orsted respond to the Mooir Vannin wind farm critics. Orsted responds to critics of the Mooir Vannin wind farm. Offshore development in Manx territorial waters falls inside the island's whole-jurisdiction UNESCO Biosphere designation.
- - Manx Mounds of the Viking Age. A lecture on Viking age burial mounds on the island. Manx Norse burials include boat graves and mounds sited on earlier Christian ground, evidence for a Norse-Gaelic society rather than a simple replacement of one population by another.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 24 MARCH 2026 YOUNG FARMERS CONCERT. Countryside covering the Young Farmers concert. The Manx Young Farmers clubs run an annual concert season alongside their agricultural activity.
- - Isle of Man king Orry's Grave full Lane. King Orry's Grave at Laxey. It is the largest megalithic tomb on the island, between 4,000 and 5,000 years old; the attribution to King Orry, that is to the eleventh century Godred Crovan, is a later folk naming and not a fact about the burial.
- - COUNTRYSIDE - 21 JULY 2026. Countryside for July 2026. Midsummer on the island covers silage, shearing and the run-up to the Royal Manx Agricultural Show.
- - 🇮🇲 Peel Bay - Peel Castle & Cathedral. Peel Bay with Peel Castle and the cathedral, from the air. Peel is Purt ny hInshey in Manx, the port of the island, named for St Patrick's Isle on which the castle stands.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 30 JUNE 2026. Countryside for June 2026. Manx farming operates within a jurisdiction that sets its own agricultural law and support, separately from the United Kingdom.
- - Agenda 2.2.26 - the Celtic Forum and Castle Rushen High School. Agenda on the Celtic Forum and Castle Rushen High School. The island is one of the six Celtic nations and takes part in inter-Celtic bodies alongside Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 28 JULY 2026. Countryside for July 2026. The island's Curragh wetland in the north, at Ballaugh, is one of its most distinctive habitats and sits alongside its farmland.
- - What does the future of farming on the IOM look like?. A discussion of the future of farming on the island. Agriculture is a small share of the Manx economy beside insurance and e-gaming, each of which contributes around 17 per cent of gross national income.
- - Isle of Man Walk 4K - Douglas to Port Soderick Beach via Douglas Head & Marine Drive 🇮🇲. A walk from Douglas to Port Soderick beach by way of Douglas Head and Marine Drive. Marine Drive was a Victorian cliff toll road and carried its own electric tramway until the 1930s.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 23 JUNE 2026. Countryside for June 2026. Early summer on Manx farms covers silage, shearing and the shows.
- - 3 Days of The Manx Electric Railways + Douglas Horse Tramway. Three days on the Manx Electric Railway and the Douglas Horse Tramway. The horse tramway along Douglas promenade is described by the island's tourism body as the world's oldest horse-drawn tramway.
- - Meet the Isle of Man’s RAREST bird - the Tree Sparrow. The tree sparrow, described by the Manx Wildlife Trust as the island's rarest bird. The island's birdlife is monitored by the Trust and by Manx BirdLife, and the Calf of Man supports around 33 breeding seabird species.
- - Perspective 8.2.26 - Blue-tongue, cattle health status and the meatplant - who’d be a farmer thes.... A discussion of bluetongue, cattle health status and the island's meat plant. Disease status matters disproportionately to an island jurisdiction that controls its own imports and exports of livestock.
- - A Cab Ride Down The Snaefell Mountain Railway.. 1895, climbs about five miles to the summit of Snaefell (Sniaull), and is the only electric mountain railway in the British Isles.
- - Ride the Manx Electric Rwy from Douglas to Laxey on the Isle of Man. Riding the Manx Electric Railway from Douglas to Laxey. The line was built between 1893 and 1899 and retains its original Victorian and Edwardian cars.
- - Manx Electric Railway- full length cab view, Ramsey to Douglas. Discover the history behind the MER. A full cab view of the Manx Electric Railway from Ramsey to Douglas, with the line's history. The MER opened in stages between 1893 and 1899 and is the longest narrow gauge vintage electric railway in the British Isles.
- - Isle of Man Steam Railway - Friday 10th April 2026. The Isle of Man Steam Railway in April 2026. The railway operates a seasonal service from Douglas to Port Erin through the south of the island.
…1,054 further moments continue the chronology here. Full text archive: /loreline-text/isle-of-man.md
- - Isle of Man Transport Festival July 2025 Manx Electric Railway. The Manx Electric Railway during the 2025 Isle of Man Transport Festival. The festival brings the island's steam, electric and horse-drawn services together in one week.
- - Battling the Storm at Langness! Waves, Wind & a Brew in the Ruins. Storm conditions at Langness. The Langness peninsula near Castletown carries a lighthouse and the ruined Herring Tower, a daymark built for the herring fleet that was once the island's mainstay.
- - Manx Electric Railway Tram No. 20. 's tourism body.
- - Niarbyl 🇮🇲 Isle of Man (4K Drone). Niarbyl on the west coast, filmed by drone. The name is Manx for the tail, after the rock reef that runs out into the sea; the point is also where two ancient continental plates meet in the exposed rock.
- - Manannan Beg, performed by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh [Manx Folk Awards 2026]. 'Manannan Beg' performed by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at the Manx Folk Awards 2026. The Bunscoill at St John's teaches every subject through Gaelg and opened in September 2001.
- - Year of the Manx Language: Frank Joughin album project. The Frank Joughin album project, part of the 2026 Year of the Manx Language. The year marks 35 years since Manx entered island schools in 1992, 30 years of the Cooish and 25 years of the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh.
- - TT Podcast Live: John McGuinness - Celebrating 30 Years | Isle of Man TT Races. John McGuinness marks thirty years of racing at the TT. He has 23 TT wins, third on the all-time list behind Joey Dunlop's 26, with a personal best lap of 132.701 mph.
- - Niarbyl January Walk. A January walk at Niarbyl. The west coast here faces Ireland, and on clear days the Mourne Mountains are visible across the Irish Sea.
- - Manx Wildlife Trust: Offshore windfarm ecological assessments 'inadequate'. The Manx Wildlife Trust calls offshore windfarm ecological assessments inadequate. Marine development in Manx territorial waters falls inside a UNESCO Biosphere designation that covers the whole of the island's sea area.
- - The Pride of Purt le Murra, performed by Bunscoill Rhumsaa [Manx Folk Awards 2026]. 'The Pride of Purt le Murra' performed by Bunscoill Rhumsaa at the Manx Folk Awards 2026. Manx is taught across island primary schools, not only at the immersion school at St John's.
- - Startline Ep 42 -Billown Bound: Pre-TT newcomers and returners gear up. Manx Radio's Startline programme on newcomers to the Billown circuit before the TT. Newcomers to the Mountain Course must complete a set number of controlled laps before they are permitted to race it.
- - Douglas Drone Show for the Year of the Manx Language 2026. The Douglas drone show for the 2026 Year of the Manx Language. The year marks three anniversaries: Manx entering schools in 1992, thirty years of the Cooish festival and twenty five years of the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh.
- - 100 Miles Around the Isle of Man - Our Raad ny Foillan Adventure Begins. Beginning a hundred mile walk around the Raad ny Foillan. The Road of the Gull was opened as a waymarked route and links the island's entire coastline.
- - Audio description: Douglas Drone Show for the Year of the Manx Language 2026. An audio described version of the Douglas drone show for the 2026 Year of the Manx Language. The year is promoted by the island's tourism body and marks anniversaries in 1992, 1996 and 2001 for schools, the Cooish and the Bunscoill.
- - Startline Ep 23 - The Dream versus reality: MGP and Classic TT 2025. Startline on the 2025 Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT. Both are run on the Mountain Course and both are counted in the compiled fatality lists that press reports usually attribute to the TT alone.
- - Pre-TT Classic Practice - Saturday 23rd May 2026. Pre-TT Classic practice from Billown in 2026. The Billown course near Castletown hosts the Pre-TT Classic and the Post-TT races and is entirely separate from the Mountain Course.
- - Port St Mary 🇮🇲 Isle of Man (4K Drone). Port St Mary from the air. The village is Purt le Moirrey in Manx and, with Port Erin, formed the Rushen women's internment camp in 1940 when the wire was drawn around both towns.
- - This language came back from the dead, and I'm speaking it. A learner speaking Manx and reflecting on the revival. The 2021 census recorded 2,223 people with conversational Gaelg, and the Isle of Man Government set a target of 5,000 speakers within a decade in its 2022 language strategy.
- - Point of Ayre Revisited. The Point of Ayre, the island's northernmost tip. The point is a shifting shingle spit with a lighthouse, and it is the low counterpart to the cliff coast at the southern end.
- - TT 2026 - Carole Nash Sportbike Race 1 - Full Commentary. Full commentary on a 2026 Sportbike race. Manx Radio's race commentaries form a continuous audio record of the meeting stretching back decades.
- - Manx Gaelic books. 's Manx language summer school for adults, held in July 2026 at QEII High School in Peel (Purt ny hInshey). Written Gaelg uses a spelling system based on Elizabethan English rather than Classical Gaelic, which is why it looks so unlike Irish or Scottish Gaelic on the page.
- - Learning Manx at the Manx Language Summer School 2026. Adults learning Manx at Scoill Souree, Culture Vannin's summer school, July 2026. The 2021 census recorded 2,223 people reporting conversational ability in Manx, up from 1,650 in 2011, and the government set a target of 5,000 speakers within a decade in a 2022 strategy.
- - Fiddyl Reesht: Manx Music for Fiddle - Book launch & concert. The fiddle carries much of the Manx tune tradition, and Culture Vannin has published collections to put the repertoire back in players' hands.
- - ELLAN VANNIN - The Island Never Left Me | A Cinematic Song of Home. Ellan Vannin is the Manx name for the island, and the song of that name is treated as an unofficial anthem. The national anthem is Arrane Ashoonagh Vannin.
- - MODDEY DHOO - The Black Dog Of Peel Castle | Dark Celtic Ballad | Isle Of Man | Forgotten Legends. The Moddey Dhoo, the black dog said to haunt Peel Castle (Purt ny hInshey), is folklore, first written down in the 1700s.
- - Manx Music. Traditional Manx music from Ellan Vannin. The tune tradition was collected in the nineteenth century and has been actively revived since.
- - Work & Play Medley: Weaving Song -- Arrane ny Fee / Smugglers' Lullaby / Gallop, Gallop --.... A medley of Manx work songs, including a weaving song. Work songs are among the oldest layers of the repertoire.
- - Manx Courting Song. A Manx courting song, part of the island's substantial body of vernacular song.
- - Manannan Song, performed by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh [Manx Folk Awards 2026]. Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at St John's opened in September 2001 and teaches all subjects through Manx, the only school in the world to do so. Manannan mac Lir is the sea god of Manx legend, said to shroud the island in mist. This is folklore, not history.
- - 🎵 CABBYL USHTEY | Dark Celtic Water Horse Legend | Sung in MANX GAELIC | English & Manx Subtitles. The Cabbyl Ushtey, the water horse, belongs to Manx folklore rather than to record.
- - Manx Milking Song. A Manx milking song. Work songs were sung to the rhythm of the task and are among the oldest layers of the repertoire.
- - Ellan Vannin - Original Song. Ellan Vannin is the Manx name for the island, and the song of that name is treated as an unofficial anthem. The national anthem is Arrane Ashoonagh Vannin.
- - Hop tu naa at Yn Chruinnaght session 2026. Informal sessions are where the Manx tune repertoire is actually passed on, in pubs and at gatherings rather than on concert stages. Hop tu Naa is the Manx Halloween, kept with turnip lanterns and its own song, and distinct from the imported American festival.
- - Gaelg: A new Manx song, performed by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at the Manx Folk Awards 2026. Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at St John's opened in September 2001 and teaches all subjects through Manx, the only school in the world to do so. The Manx Folk Awards are the island's competitive festival for young performers of Manx music, song and dance.
- - Full length Douglas Drone Show for the Year of the Manx Language. The full drone show staged over Douglas (Doolish) for the 2026 Year of the Manx Language, which marks 35 years since Manx entered schools, 30 years of the Cooish festival and 25 years of the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh.
- - Isle of Man Steam Railway 'Manx Heritage Transport Festival' 2026. The Isle of Man Steam Railway during the 2026 Manx Heritage Transport Festival. The festival runs the island's steam, electric and horse-drawn lines together, most of them Victorian and all still in service.
- - Isle of Man Walk 4K - Douglas Promenade Patrol 2 feat. Douglas Quay 🇮🇲. A walk along Douglas promenade and quay. Douglas had 26,677 residents at the 2021 census, out of an island population of 84,069.
- - Slane Lhiu, Vanannan: Bunscoill Ghaelgagh Summer Play, 2026. The full 2026 summer play staged by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh at St John's (Balley Keeill Eoin), performed entirely in Manx Gaelic. The school opened in September 2001 and teaches all subjects through Gaelg by immersion.
- - COUNTRYSIDE 11 AUGUST 2026 Royal Manx Show 2026. Countryside covering the Royal Manx Show of 2026. The Royal Manx Agricultural Show is the island's principal farming event of the year.
- - Manx Electric Railway (July & August 2026). The Manx Electric Railway in the summer of 2026. The line runs from Derby Castle at Douglas to Laxey and on to Ramsey, roughly seventeen miles of narrow gauge electric tramway.
- - Glover Law MGP SuperSport Race 2026. The 2026 Manx Grand Prix Supersport race. The Manx Grand Prix is the amateur and classic meeting held over the same Mountain Course in August and September, and is a distinct event from the June TT, a distinction that press coverage of the course routinely collapses.
- - Perspective 23.8.26 - departing Ramsey MHK Alex Allinson reflects on his ten years in Tynwald.. The departing Ramsey MHK Alex Allinson reflects on ten years in Tynwald. Members of the House of Keys have been directly elected since the House of Keys Election Act 1866; before that the Keys was self-electing, a closed body that filled its own vacancies.
- - WILDTHING - Derek v Derek with Derek Gow. Derek Gow talking about wildlife restoration. The island's whole territory is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a designation awarded in 2016 that makes species and habitat restoration a jurisdiction-wide policy question.
- - 2026 TYNWALD DAY LIVE FEED. The full live feed of Tynwald Day 2026 from Tynwald Hill. The ceremony includes the promulgation of Acts in Manx and English, without which an Act passed more than eighteen months earlier becomes void.
- - The background to the Manx language exhibition in the Manx Museum. Background to the Manx language exhibition at the Manx Museum. The 2021 census recorded 2,223 people on the island reporting conversational ability in Manx Gaelic (Gaelg), up from 1,650 in 2011.
- - 'Mind Your Language' - An introduction to the Manx language exhibition in the Manx Museum. An introduction to the 'Mind Your Language' exhibition on Manx Gaelic (Gaelg) at the Manx Museum in Douglas (Doolish). Gaelg is a Goidelic Celtic language, sister to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and its written form is unusual in using a spelling system based on Elizabethan English rather than Classical Gaelic.
- - Startline Ep 59 - How was it for you? MGP 2026 newcomers and a sidecar experience. Manx Radio's Startline reviews the 2026 Manx Grand Prix with newcomers and a sidecar passenger. The MGP is held in August and September over the same Mountain Course as the June TT.
- - Why Nobody Wants to Visit The Isle of Man Anymore. A critical look at the island's decline as a holiday destination. The Victorian and mid-century holiday trade, built on steamer traffic from the Lancashire mill towns, fell away through the later twentieth century as the island's economy shifted to finance, insurance and e-gaming.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/isle-of-man.md
