Douglas is the capital city and largest settlement of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021) and an area of 10.5 km2. It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and on a sweeping bay of two miles. The River Douglas forms part of the city's harbour and main commercial port.
Castletown is a town in the Isle of Man, geographically within the historical parish of Malew but administered separately. Lying at the south of the island, it was the Manx capital until 1869. The centre of town is dominated by Castle Rushen, a well-preserved medieval castle, originally built for a Viking king.
Ramsey is a coastal town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,845 according to the 2016 Census. It has one of the biggest harbours on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of the main points of communication with Scotland. Ramsey has also been a route for several invasions by the Vikings and Scots.
Mec Vannin is a political party operating in the Isle of Man. Formed in 1962, it seeks to revoke the status of Man as a British self-governing Crown dependency and establish a completely sovereign state, which would be a republic.
The Manx Labour Party is a political party on the Isle of Man that was founded in 1918.
Manx National Heritage is the national heritage organisation for the Isle of Man. The organisation manages a significant proportion of the island’s physical heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastline and landscape. It holds property, archives, artwork, library and museum collections in trust for the Manx nation. It is the Isle of Man's statutory heritage agency and an Isle of Man registered charity (№ 603).
The Manx are a minority ethnic group originating on the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea in Northern Europe. They belong to the diaspora of the Gaelic ethnolinguistic group, which now populate the parts of the British Isles and Ireland which once were the Kingdom of the Isles and Dál Riata. The Manx are governed through the Tynwald, the legislature of the island, which was introduced by Viking settlers over a thousand years ago. The native mythology and folklores of the Manx belong to the overall Celtic Mythology group, with Manannán mac Lir, the Mooinjer veggey, Buggane, Lhiannan-Shee, Ben-Varrey and the Moddey Dhoo being prominent mythological figures on the island. Their language, Manx Gaelic is derived from Middle Irish, which was introduced by settlers that colonised the island from Gaelic Ireland. However, Manx gaelic later developed in isolation and belongs as a separate Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic languages.
Cregneash or Cregneish is a small village and tourist destination in the extreme south-west of the Isle of Man, about 1 mi (2 km) from Port Erin. Most of the village is now part of a living museum run by Manx National Heritage. There are also a number of private homes in the village, but their external appearance is controlled to maintain an older look. The village was also home to prominent Manx language speakers, Edward Faragher and Ned Maddrell.
The Isle of Man Government is the government of the Isle of Man. The formal head of the Isle of Man Government is the Lieutenant Governor, the personal representative of the Lord of Mann. The executive head is the Chief Minister.
Lezayre, formally Kirk Christ Lezayre, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.
For a small country, sport in the Isle of Man plays an important part in making the island known to the wider world. The principal international sporting event held on the island is the annual Isle of Man TT motorcycling event. However, the Isle of Man is represented internationally in a number of other sports at the Commonwealth Games and the Island Games.
Bernard Moffatt is a Manx nationalist who was born in Peel, Isle of Man. Both his mother and father were Manx. He was educated at Peel Clothworkers School, where Manx dancing classes at the School were organised by Mona Douglas, an icon of the Manx cultural revival. Moffatt was enrolled in one of those teams.
"I'm now a fully committed Manx Nationalist" he said, and the start of this was the emphasis placed at school on Manx history art and culture. "We used to have Mona Douglas round to talk to us – and I was in the Manx folk dancing team".
Josephine Kermode (1852–1937) was a Manx poet and playwright better known by the pen name "Cushag".
The Reih Bleeaney Vanannan is the Isle of Man's most prestigious annual award for culture. It is presented by Culture Vannin to the person or group who, in the opinion of the panel of assessors, has made the most outstanding contribution to Manx culture. It is officially presented by the President of Culture Vannin, normally in January each year.
Rinkaghyn Vannin is an important book of 28 Manx dances, mostly collected by Mona Douglas, which was published in 1983 by Sleih gyn Thie.
The House of Manannan is a museum in Peel in the Isle of Man. It is named after the "great mythological sea god" Manannan and covers the island's Celtic, Viking, and Maritime history.
William Cubbon M.A. was a Manx nationalist, antiquarian, author, businessman and librarian who was the first secretary of the Manx Museum, later becoming Director of the Museum.
Solace in Wicca is a 2013 Manx-produced short biographical horror drama film about the 1617 execution of Margaret Quaine and her son Robert, the only executions for witchcraft recorded on the Isle of Man and one of the last witchcraft executions to be sanctioned by the Church of England in the British Isles.
Constance Radcliffe was a Manx historian who wrote primarily about the history of the parish of Maughold and the town of Ramsey, both in the north of the Isle of Man. In 1989 Radcliffe was awarded the Reih Bleeaney Vanannan in recognition of her contribution to Manx culture, and was a recipient of the MBE in 1996.
