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.
Part of Isle of Man
93 moments in this segment.
- - Archaeological Journal, Volume 3, 0065. An engraving of the Cathedral of St German at Peel from the Archaeological Journal, volume 3, 1846. Antiquarian recording of this kind is how the island's monuments entered the scholarly record.
- - Flaxney Stowell (1846-1916) - Castletown Harbour - 1955-0345 - Manx Museum. 'Castletown Harbour' by Flaxney Stowell (1846 to 1916), 1884, in the Manx Museum collection. Castletown was the island's capital until Tynwald moved to Douglas in 1874, ten years before this was painted.
- - Songs of Praise - Peel Castle, Isle of Man, 1997 (Part 1). Songs of Praise recorded at Peel Castle in 1997. The castle on St Patrick's Isle was originally built by the Norse in the eleventh century and later held the cathedral of the diocese of Sodor and Man.
- - Castletown. Castle Rushen at Castletown (Balley Chashtal). The castle was the seat of the Lords of Mann and the island's centre of government, and the Revestment Act was read publicly here on 11 July 1765.
- - Part of the Meayll Circle. 18 metre circle, a plan not found elsewhere in the British Isles in this form.
- - Peel general view of castle Isle of Man England. A photochrome print of Peel Castle. The castle's red sandstone curtain wall encloses the whole of St Patrick's Isle.
- - Castle Rushen. 's courts, prison and administration for centuries.
- - Watch Tower. A tower at Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. The castle was originally built by the Norse in the 11th century and stands on the islet joined to Peel by a causeway.
- - Peel Harbour
- - Beside Peel Castle at Dusk - panoramio. Peel Castle at dusk. The castle stands on St Patrick's Isle, which carried a Christian community before the Norse arrived and a garrison long after they left.
- - Rushen Abbey. 's principal monastery and is associated with the compilation of the Chronicles of Mann, a 13th to 14th century source now held at the British Library.
- - IOM Peel German Cathedral by Malost. The Cathedral of St German at Peel Castle. The cathedral stands inside the castle walls on St Patrick's Isle and gave the island's diocese, Sodor and Man, half its name; Sodor comes from Old Norse Sudreyjar, the Southern Isles.
- - Cashtal yn Ard
- - Entrance to Peel Castle. The entrance to Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. The gatehouse controls the causeway that is the only land approach to the island.
- - Isle Of Man. Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. No contemporary image of any king of Mann exists, so the Norse period on the island is known through its sites and its carved stones rather than its people.
- - Juan-y-Pherick's Journey by W. Walter Gill (cover). The cover of W. Walter Gill's 1916 poetry collection 'Juan-y-Pherick's Journey and Other Poems', published during the First World War with the profits going to a Manx cause. Gill later compiled the Manx Scrapbooks, one of the fullest collections of the island's folklore.
- - Isle of Man - panoramio (92). A castle on the Isle of Man. The island's two great stone castles are Castle Rushen at Castletown and Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle, both with Norse origins.
- - HANGO HILL, DERBY HAVEN ISLE OF MAN. The ruin at Hango Hill near Derby Haven. Illiam Dhone, William Christian, was executed by firing squad here in the 17th century; his standing as patriot or traitor is genuinely contested in Manx historiography and is not settled.
- - Thor's Stone and Other Manx Runestone Crosses ~ UK/Euro Vlog #9. Manx runestone crosses, including the cross at Kirk Andreas usually read as showing Odin devoured by the wolf Fenrir alongside Christian imagery. The identification is an interpretation rather than a settled fact, but the crosses themselves are the best surviving evidence of the island's Norse-Gaelic synthesis.
- - Manx Runestones on the Isle of Man ~ UK/Euro Vlog #8. Manx runestones. The island's stone crosses carry Norse runic inscriptions alongside Christian and Scandinavian mythological imagery, and are held by Manx National Heritage.
- - Cashtal yn Ard by Drone - Isle of Man 2016. Cashtal yn Ard by drone. The Neolithic chambered tomb sits above Maughold on the island's east coast and belongs to the same period as the Ronaldsway culture, the island's own distinctively Manx late Neolithic tradition.
- - Isle of Man - Cashtal yn Ard or the Castle of the Heights. Cashtal yn Ard, the castle of the heights, from the air. The Neolithic chambered tomb near Maughold is one of the largest surviving megalithic monuments on the island.
- - With my brothers the worms. A grave notice inside Peel Castle reading 'with my brothers the worms'. The castle enclosure contains the cathedral of St German and centuries of burials.
- - Cronk Howe Mooar: An Ancient Fort in the Isle of Man. Cronk Howe Mooar, an earthwork fort near Port Erin. The island's Iron Age and medieval defensive sites include promontory forts, hillforts such as South Barrule, and mottes of this kind.
- - Port Erin, Calf of Man, Cregneash and Meayll Hill Stone Circle in 4K - Isle of Man by Drone. Aerial views of Port Erin, the Calf of Man, Cregneash and the Meayll Hill stone circle. Cregneash is Manx National Heritage's folk village and was Ned Maddrell's home village, linking the island's crofting landscape to its language history.
- - 2018 April walks in the Isle of Man. Spring walks across the island. The Manx landscape carries its archaeology in the open: Neolithic chambered tombs, Bronze Age burial mounds, Iron Age promontory forts and Norse-era burial sites all sit in working farmland.
- - Meayll Stone Circle July 2018 (Drone). The Meayll Circle, also called Mull Circle, near Cregneash (Creneash) at the southern end of the island. It is a Neolithic monument of paired chambers set in a ring, unusual in form among British megalithic sites.
- - Debbie does Isle of Man with Megalithic Tours. A guided tour of Manx megalithic sites. The island's Neolithic monuments predate the Norse period by roughly three thousand years, which is why the folk name King Orry's Grave, referring to an eleventh century ruler, cannot be a burial fact.
- - Sheean ny Feaynid: The Sounds of Infinity. A site associated with William Cashen, the Peel fisherman and folklore collector whose accounts of Manx custom were recorded in the early twentieth century. Cashen was a native Manx speaker and one of the tradition bearers on whom the written record depends.
- - Castle Rushen banquet. A display of a medieval banquet inside Castle Rushen. The castle presents the period of the Stanley lordship, when the family styled themselves King of Mann before reverting to Lord of Mann.
- - Exploring Island Heritage - Visiting Rushen Abbey and the Nautical Museum. A visit to Rushen Abbey and the Nautical Museum at Castletown. Rushen Abbey is where the Chronicles of Mann, the principal narrative source for the Norse period, is traditionally held to have been compiled.
- - Exploring Island Heritage - Castle Rushen. Manx Radio explores Castle Rushen. Castletown was the island's capital until 1869, and the Revestment Act was read publicly at the castle on 11 July 1765.
- - St. Patrick's Chair, Marown, Isle of Man. The standing cross slabs known as St Patrick's Chair at Marown. The tradition that St Patrick converted the island is legend rather than established history, though the stones themselves are real early Christian monuments.
- - Megaliths and Giants of the Isle of Man | The Cloven Stones and King Orry's Grave | Megalithomania. The Cloven Stones and King Orry's Grave at Laxey (Laksaa). King Orry's Grave is the island's largest megalithic tomb, between 4,000 and 5,000 years old; the name refers to the eleventh century ruler Godred Crovan and is a later folk attribution, so nobody named Orry is buried there.
- - MNH Museum on the Move 2 Meayll Circle 1. Manx National Heritage on the Meayll Circle. The monument near Cregneash consists of six pairs of chambers arranged in a ring, a plan not closely paralleled elsewhere in the British Isles.
- - Meayll Hill (Mull Hill) Isle of Man July 2020. Meayll Hill, also called Mull Hill, above Cregneash. The stone circle here is Neolithic, and the hill overlooks the Sound and the Calf of Man.
- - Balladoole MNH Museum on the Move 7. Manx National Heritage on Balladoole. Chapel Hill at Balladoole carries an Iron Age promontory fort, an early Christian burial ground and a Viking ship burial, layered on one site.
- - Exploring: Dji Mavic Mini : Cashtal yn Ard Ancient Burial Site : Isle of Man Drone View. Cashtal yn Ard, the Neolithic chambered tomb near Maughold, filmed by drone. The Manx name means castle of the height; it is described in tourism material as the largest of its type in Britain, a claim worth attributing rather than asserting.
- - Ray Kelly on the Isle of Man, visiting the old farm called Cronk Dhoo. A visit to an abandoned Manx farm called Cronk Dhoo. Ruined farmsteads, tholtans, are a standard feature of the Manx uplands, left by nineteenth and early twentieth century emigration after the collapse of mining and the fishery.
- - The Story of Castle Rushen One of Europe's best preserved Medieval Castles MUST SEE !!!. Castle Rushen in Castletown. The castle was the seat of the Lords of Mann and remained the island's administrative centre until the capital moved to Douglas in 1869.
- - A tour of a keeill
- - 10th century Viking treasure (2). Tenth century Viking treasure found on the island. Silver hoards of this date belong to the era of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, the Norse-Gaelic realm known in Old Norse as the Sudreyjar, the Southern Isles.
- - Peel Castle Tour 🇮🇲 isle of man. A tour of Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. The castle was originally built by the Norse in the eleventh century, and is the setting of the Moddey Dhoo, the phantom black dog first documented in the 1700s and presented here as folklore.
- - Isle of Man Ep 20 Castle Rushen, Rushen Abbey. Castle Rushen and Rushen Abbey. The abbey was a Cistercian house and is traditionally credited with the compilation of the Chronicles of Mann, the thirteenth to fourteenth century source in which the Tynwald place-name first appears.
- - Peel Peel Castle Coast 4. The coast beside Peel Castle. St Patrick's Isle carried an early Christian settlement before the Norse fortified it, and the two phases sit on top of each other on the same small island.
- - Chambered Tomb at King Orry's Grave. The chambered tomb at King Orry's Grave, Laxey (Laksaa), about 5,000 years old. The name refers to Godred Crovan, an 11th century ruler, so the tomb predates the man it is named for by roughly three thousand years; the attribution is folklore, not a burial fact.
- - Green triskelions on the "Goll-twoaie (Rainbow)" dolphin. Triskelions painted green on a dolphin sculpture at Ronaldsway Airport, made by Cronk-y-Berry School for the Big Splash art trail. The Three Legs of Mann is medieval in adoption and its origin before that is genuinely obscure.
- - Peel Peel Castle Courtyard 02. The courtyard of Peel Castle on St Patrick's Isle. The Norse built the first fortification here in the 11th century; the later curtain wall enclosed the earlier Christian settlement and the cathedral.
- - Violet triskelions on the "Goll-twoaie (Rainbow)" dolphin. Violet triskelions on the 'Goll-twoaie' dolphin at Ronaldsway Airport, part of the Big Splash art trail. The motto that accompanies the symbol, 'Quocunque Jeceris Stabit', is Latin and dates from the 17th century, later than the triskelion itself.
- - St. Patrick's Isle, Peel Castle, and Peel. St Patrick's Isle, Peel Castle and the town of Peel (Purt ny hInshey) from Corrin's Hill. The castle is the largest Norse-founded structure on the island and the setting of the Moddey Dhoo legend, the phantom black dog first documented in the 1700s.
- - Cregneash Meayll Circle 2. The Meayll Stone Circle above Cregneash. The circle is a Neolithic chambered tomb complex, and it sits on the high ground above the island's southern tip.
- - Cregneash Meayll Circle View to Port Erin 1. The view from the Meayll Circle at Cregneash down to Port Erin. Neolithic monuments on the island are almost always sited for a view, which is part of why they are still legible in the landscape.
- - Castletown Castle Rushen Exterior North Side 1. The north side of Castle Rushen at Castletown. The castle was the seat of the Lords of Mann, held by the Stanley family from the early 15th century and later by the Dukes of Atholl until Revestment in 1765.
- - Cregneash Meayll Circle View to Port Erin 6. The view from the Meayll Circle at Cregneash towards Port Erin. The southern tip of the island holds the Neolithic circle, the folk village and Ned Maddrell's birthplace within a mile of each other.
- - Viking Women and the Isle of Man. A talk on Viking women and the Isle of Man. The Norse settlement of the island produced a Norse-Gaelic population, and the burial record includes richly furnished female graves alongside the better known male ship burials.
- - Castle Rushen (best preserved Viking castle). Castle Rushen at Castletown. The castle is medieval rather than Norse in its standing fabric, though the island's Norse kingdom ended with the Treaty of Perth in 1266 and the site's origins are earlier than the surviving stonework.
- - The Ballaharra Stones at St John's. (Balley Keeill Eoin), from a Neolithic tomb uncovered during excavation and re-erected beside the main road. They stand a short distance from Tynwald Hill, so Neolithic and Norse monuments share one village.
- - King Orry's Grave (Site Two). King Orry's Grave at Laxey, the larger of the two surviving sites. The tomb is between 4,000 and 5,000 years old; the name attaching it to King Orry, that is Godred Crovan, is a later folk attribution.
- - Treasure Island: Viking age silver found on the Isle of Man. Viking age silver found on the island. Norse-era hoards are among the strongest material evidence for the island's place in the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, a Norse-Gaelic sea kingdom spanning Mann and the Hebrides.
- - Castle Rushen medieval castle in Castletown, Isle of Man. Castle Rushen at Castletown, one of the best preserved medieval castles in the British Isles. The Revestment Act, by which the Crown bought the lordship of Mann from the Duke of Atholl for 70,000 pounds, was read publicly here on 11 July 1765.
- - Isle of Man - Kirk Andreas 20240220 Manx Crosses. The collection of Manx crosses in the west annex of Kirk Andreas. Andreas holds Thorwald's Cross, whose carving is usually read as Odin being devoured by the wolf Fenrir set alongside Christian imagery, an interpretation rather than a certainty.
- - Isle of Man - Kirk Michael - Manx Cross no 126 20240220. Manx Cross number 126 at Kirk Michael. The Manx runic crosses carry Norse inscriptions cut alongside Christian and Scandinavian mythological imagery, and they are the best surviving evidence of the Norse-Gaelic synthesis on the island.
- - Isle of Man - Meayll Hill 20240222 overview from north. Meayll Hill in the parish of Rushen, seen from the north. The hill carries the Meayll Circle, a megalithic chambered tomb whose chambers are arranged around a circle roughly 18 metres across.
- - Isle of Man - Kirk Maughold - Manx Cross no 108 20240220. Manx Cross number 108 at Kirk Maughold. Maughold parish holds the island's most significant collection of cross slabs, spanning the early Christian and Norse periods.
- - Isle of Man - Kirk Maiughold - St Maughold Pillar Cross 20240220 side with cruxifiction and side with shead.... The St Maughold Pillar Cross at Kirk Maughold, with a crucifixion on one face and a sheaf of corn on another. Maughold, Manx Maghal, gives his name to the parish and to one of the island's principal early Christian sites.
- - Isle of Man - Ballasalla - Rushen Abbey 20240222 Chapter House. The chapter house at Rushen Abbey, Ballasalla, in the parish of Malew. The Chronicles of Mann, the principal narrative source for the Norse period, are traditionally said to have been compiled at this abbey.
- - Isle of Man - Douglas - Kingswood Grove - Manx Museum 20240219 Manx crosses. The Manx Crosses exhibition at the Manx Museum, Kingswood Grove, Douglas. Manx National Heritage holds the runic cross corpus, which is the island's principal surviving material record of the Norse-Gaelic period.
- - Isle of Man - Ballafayle Cairn 20240220 from south. Ballafayle Cairn in the parish of Maughold, seen from the south. Bronze Age burial on the island moved from large communal megalithic tombs to smaller individual mounds like this one.
- - Isle of Man - Jurby Church - Manx Cross no 13 20240220. Manx Cross number 13 at Jurby Church. The crosses are numbered in the Manx National Heritage corpus, and the numbering is how they are cited in the scholarship.
- - Isle of Man - Andreas Church - Manx Cross no 37 20240220. Manx Cross number 37 at Andreas Church. Kirk Andreas holds several of the most important Norse-period crosses, carved with runic inscriptions in the Scandinavian manner.
- - Isle of Man - Kirk Maughold - Manx Cross no 97 20240220. Manx Cross number 97 at Kirk Maughold. Maughold's cross slabs span the pre-Norse Christian period and the Norse period that followed, in one churchyard.
- - Isle of Man -Broogh Fort 20240221 mound seen from the bank. The mound at Broogh Fort in the parish of Santon, seen from the bank. Iron Age promontory forts and defended enclosures are scattered along the island's coast and river valleys.
- - Isle of Man - St. Adamnan's Church-Lonan Old Church - Manx Cross no 76 20240220. Manx Cross number 76 at St Adamnan's Church, the old Lonan church. The Lonan cross stands in its churchyard on the east coast and is a Celtic wheel-headed cross.
- - Walking The Isle of Men (Raad ny Foillen) Douglas to Castletown | Dan-Ger. Walking the Raad ny Foillan, the Road of the Gull, from Douglas to Castletown. The coastal footpath encircles the whole island and passes most of its promontory forts and headland sites.
- - Isle of Man from above. Aerial views across the island. At roughly 32 miles by 14, the whole of Mann is visible from the summit of Snaefell (Sniaull) on a clear day, which is why its archaeology has been so densely recorded.
- - Castle Rushen Trip Monday 13th October (Part One). A visit to Castle Rushen at Castletown. The castle held the island's courts and prison, and its clock and keep survive largely intact from the medieval structure.
- - Finds In The Fairway (Full Episode) | S14 EP1 | Time Team (Isle Of Man). Time Team excavating on the Isle of Man. The island's archaeology has an unusual episode in its history: Gerhard Bersu, a German prehistorian interned at Hutchinson Camp as an enemy alien, excavated Manx sites while detained during the Second World War.
- - Isle of Man - September 2024 Walk to Meayll Circle. A walk to the Meayll Circle in September 2024. The site sits within Manx National Heritage's Cregneash area, alongside the folk village and the traditional Loaghtan flocks.
- - Exploring The Ruins Of Rushen Abbey.
- - Isle of Man - Castletown. Castletown, the island's capital until 1869. The town is built around Castle Rushen and holds the old House of Keys chamber, used before the legislature moved to Douglas.
- - Echoes of the Damned: Real Hauntings at Castle Rushen. A ghost-hunting film at Castle Rushen. The castle's documented history is substantial without the hauntings: it was the seat of the Lords of Mann and the place where the 1765 Revestment Act was publicly read.
- - Coins from the Viking age have been discovered on the Isle of Man. Viking age coins discovered on the island. Coin and silver hoards are the principal portable evidence for the island's role in Irish Sea trade during the Norse period.
- - John Miller Nicholson (1840-1913) - Baldwin Mill - 1954-2501-041 - Manx Museum. 'Baldwin Mill' by John Miller Nicholson (1840 to 1913), in the Manx Museum collection. Nicholson painted the island's working landscape in the decades when its mills and mines were still turning.
- - Isle of Man TT Course, Cronk-y-Voddy. The Cronk-y-Voddy straight on the A3 between Castletown and Ramsey, part of the Mountain Course. The road here runs across open upland, and it is public highway for all but a few weeks of the year.
- - William Webb (1790-1856) - Port St Mary - 1978-0199b - Manx Museum. 'Port St Mary' by William Webb (1790 to 1856), in the Manx Museum collection. Port St Mary, Purt le Moirrey, was a fishing port before it became half of the Rushen internment camp in 1940.
- - 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.
- - 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.
- - 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.
- - 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.
- - 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.
- - 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.
- - 🇮🇲 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.
- - 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.
