The Isle of Man or Mann, is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations and is the homeland of the Manx people, a Celtic ethnic group. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The government of the United Kingdom is responsible for the Isle of Man's military defence and represents it abroad, but the Isle of Man still has a separate international identity.
Douglas is the capital city and largest settlement of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021) and an area of 4.1 square miles (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.
Onchan is a large village in the parish of Onchan on the Isle of Man. It is at the north end of Douglas Bay. Administratively a district, it has the second largest population of settlements on the island, after Douglas, with which it forms a conurbation.
Peel is a seaside town and small fishing port in the Isle of Man, in the historic parish of German but administered separately. Peel is the third largest town in the Island after Douglas and Ramsey but the fourth largest settlement, as Onchan has the second largest population but is classified as a village.
The culture of the Isle of Man is influenced by its Celtic and, to a lesser extent, its Norse origins, though its close proximity to the United Kingdom, popularity as a UK tourist destination, and recent mass immigration by British migrant workers has meant that British influence has been dominant since the Revestment period. Recent revival campaigns have attempted to preserve the surviving vestiges of Manx culture after a long period of Anglicisation, and significant interest in the Manx language, history and musical tradition has been the result.
The Manx are an 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.
Michael is one of the six sheadings of the Isle of Man. It is located on the west of the island and consists of the three historic parishes of Ballaugh, Jurby and Michael.
Marown is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man. It is the only landlocked parish on the Island.
The River Glass is a river on the Isle of Man. The river begins in the area of Injebreck about 10km north of Douglas, the Island's capital. Flowing down through the West Baldwin Valley, the river joins the River Dhoo to form the River Douglas on the outskirts of Douglas before flowing out to sea. The river has a length of approximately 8.5km.
Douglas Head Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Douglas Head on the Isle of Man located between England and Ireland.
Union Mills is a village in the parish of Braddan on the A1, the primary road which connects Douglas and Peel in the Isle of Man, close to the River Dhoo.
The Moddey Dhoo is a phantom black dog in Manx folklore that reputedly haunted Peel Castle on the west coast of the Isle of Man. The Manx name Moddey Dhoo was transcribed as Mauthe Doog by an influential 18th-Century English-speaking folklore source, which led to a history of misspellings of the proper name.
Braddan Bridge is a bridge over the river Dhoo on the Douglas to Peel road, from which a halt on the Isle of Man Railway's first line to Peel took its name.
Strang or The Strang is a settlement within the parish of Braddan on the Isle of Man. It is almost contiguous with Douglas, the largest town on the island, and with the village of Union Mills. Nearby is Noble's Hospital, the island's only general hospital, sited on land which was originally purchased for an asylum in 1862, with completion in 1868, known as Ballamona Hospital.
Quarterbridge Crossing was the first major crossing point of the Isle of Man Railway's first line from Douglas to Peel. It opened in 1873, but closed in 1968, with the rest of the line.
Crosby is a small village located 3+3⁄4 miles west of Douglas in the parish of Marown in the Isle of Man.
Greeba Bridge is situated between the 6th milestone and 7th road milestones on the primary A1 Douglas to Peel road and the junction with the Greeba Mill Road in the parish of Kirk German in the Isle of Man.
Juan Noa was the pen-name of John Henry Cleator, a Manx dialect poet and playwright active from the 1920s to the 1960s in the Isle of Man.
The geology of the Isle of Man consists primarily of a thick pile of sedimentary rocks dating from the Ordovician period, together with smaller areas of later sedimentary and extrusive igneous strata. The older strata was folded and faulted during the Caledonian and Acadian orogenies The bedrock is overlain by a range of glacial and post-glacial deposits. Igneous intrusions in the form of dykes and plutons are common, some associated with mineralisation which spawned a minor metal mining industry.
The Manx Group is an Ordovician lithostratigraphic group in the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. The name is derived from the name of the island which is largely formed from them; these rocks have also previously been referred to as the Manx Slates or Manx Slates Series. The group comprises dark mudstones with siltstone laminae and some sandstones and which exceed a thickness of 3000m. It is divided into a lowermost Glen Dhoo Formation which is overlain by the Lonan, Mull Hill, Creg Agneash and Maughold formations in ascending order. A fault separates these from the overlying Barrule, Injebreck, Glen Rushen and Creggan Mooar formations which are in turn separated by a fault from an overlying Ladyport Formation.
