St John's
| |
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Location within the Isle of Man | |
OS grid reference | SC277818 |
Parish | German |
Sheading | Glenfaba |
Crown dependency | Isle of Man |
Post town | ISLE OF MAN |
Postcode district | IM4 |
Dialling code | 01624 |
Police | Isle of Man |
Fire | Isle of Man |
Ambulance | Isle of Man |
House of Keys | Glenfaba & Peel |
St John's (Manx : Balley Keeill Eoin) is a small village in the sheading of Glenfaba in the Isle of Man, in the island's central valley. [1] It is in the House of Keys constituency of Glenfaba & Peel, which elects two MHKs. [2]
Tynwald Hill, the original assembly place for the Isle of Man parliament, Tynwald, is the scene of the annual ceremony in which the laws of the Isle of Man are promulgated in English and Manx, usually [3] on July 5. Tynwald Day attracts thousands of spectators to watch the ceremony and participate in the Tynwald Fair.
Tynwald Day, July 5, corresponded to St John's feast day by the Julian calendar, which was the date held to be midsummer day; so Tynwald Day was a midsummer fair. [4]
The Anglican church in the village is dedicated to St John and the village takes its name from the church. Within the church are reserved seats with name plaques for members of both branches of the Manx parliament, whilst in the adjacent church hall is an exhibition detailing the history of Tynwald.
The village is dominated by Slieau Whallian , a steep hill to its south. The Tynwald National Park (also known as the Arboretum) is situated on the east side of the village. [5]
Opposite the church is the site of the ancient pound where stray animals were placed until claimed. If unclaimed after a year and a day they became the property of the Lord of Mann, whilst the recovery fee for reclaimed animals was shared equally between the Lord of Mann and the pound official, the "pindar". [6] Also displayed on that site are large stones from a 2300 BC burial chamber found locally.
The main commercial venture of the village is Tynwald Mills, which claims to be the only department store in the island. [7]
The village is on the A1 Douglas to Peel road. It is also close to the junction with the A3, which leads in a southerly direction to Foxdale and Castletown, and northerly to Kirk Michael, Ballaugh, Sulby and Ramsey. It is thus conveniently located for access from all parts of the island (even before these roads were built), which is believed to have been a consideration in the original location of Tynwald here.
The village's railway station has long since closed. In its day it was a major railway junction, in the context of the Isle of Man: it was on the Isle of Man Railway (Peel line), the Manx Northern Railway and the Foxdale Railway. The trackbed of the Isle of Man Railway is now used as a footpath, named the Steam Heritage Trail.
Since 2003, the former St John's School building has been used by the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh (the Manx language primary school).
Tynwald Day is the National Day of the Isle of Man, usually observed on 5 July.
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.
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.
Port Erin is a seaside village in the south-west of the Isle of Man, in the historic parish of Rushen. It was previously a seaside resort before the decline of the tourist trade. Administratively it is designated as a village district, with its own board of commissioners. The district covers around 1 square mile, and is adjacent to: Port St Mary to the south-east; the main part of Arbory and Rushen parish district to the north and east; the sea to the west; and an exclave of Arbory and Rushen parish district to the south. Following recent residential expansion, the settlement is now contiguous with that of Port St Mary, and on 18 July 2018 Tynwald authorised a public enquiry into the proposed expansion of the district boundary to include some of this expansion.
The Isle of Man Railway (IMR) is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is 3 ft narrow gauge and 15+1⁄2 miles long. It is the remainder of what was a much larger network that also served the western town of Peel, the northern town of Ramsey and the mining village of Foxdale. Now in government ownership, it uses original rolling stock and locomotives and there are few concessions to modernity.
Illiam Dhone or Illiam Dhône, also known as William Christian, was a Manx politician and depending on viewpoint, patriot, rebel or traitor. He was a son of Ewan Christian, a deemster. In Manx, Illiam Dhone literally translates to Brown William—an epithet he received due to his dark hair—and in English he was called Brown-haired William. Dhone was a significant figure in the Isle of Man during the English Civil War and the Manx Rebellion of 1651. He was executed for high treason in 1663. In the centuries after his death he has become a "martyr and folk-hero, a symbol of the Island's cherished freedoms and traditional rights".
Ballasalla is a village in the parish of Malew in the south-east of the Isle of Man. The village is situated close to the Isle of Man Airport and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Castletown.
The River Neb is one of the principal rivers on the Isle of Man. It rises in the Michael hills, flows SW through Glen Helen to St John's, where it is joined by its principal tributary, the Foxdale River, and then flows NW to the Irish Sea at the town of Peel on the western coast. The river gets a fine run of seatrout in the autumn.
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.
Glenfaba is one of the six sheadings of the Isle of Man.
German is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.
Patrick is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.
Foxdale is a village consisting of the districts of Upper and Lower Foxdale on the A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road with the junction of the A24 Foxdale to Braaid road and the A40 The Hope road in the parish of Kirk Patrick in the Isle of Man.
The Manx Northern Railway (MNR) was the second common carrier railway built in the Isle of Man. It was a steam railway between St John's and Ramsey. It operated as an independent concern only from 1879 to 1905.
The Foxdale Railway was a 3 ft narrow gauge branch line which ran from St. John's to Foxdale in the Isle of Man. The line ran 2+1⁄4 miles (3.6 km) from an end-on junction with the Manx Northern Railway west of St. John's, then passed to the north of the Isle of Man Railway station before curving south and crossing the IMR's line from Douglas via an overbridge to the east of the station. The line had a fairly constant incline through Waterfall(s) Halt, the only intermediate station, to the terminus in Upper Foxdale. The tracks extended beyond Foxdale into the mine workings area.
This article details each of the lines operated by the Isle of Man Railway, including the original line to Peel in the west, opened in 1873, followed by the Port Erin line the following year, as well as the Manx Northern Railway's line between St John's and Ramsey and the Foxdale Railway's line between St John's and Foxdale.
St John's Railway Station was on the Isle of Man Railway (IMR), later merging with the nearby station of the Manx Northern Railway (MNR); it was the junction of lines to Douglas, Peel, Ramsey and Foxdale. It was close to Tynwald Hill. The station began life in 1873 as the penultimate stop on the Peel Line, the island's first passenger railway line; it consisted of a simple wooden waiting shelter with accommodation for the station master, and a passing loop. This layout remained until the arrival of the new line from the north in 1879 when a second station was established, later merging with the existing one. The station was the hub of the island's railway network, where the lines to Douglas, Peel, Ramsey and Foxdale met.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Isle of Man:
Geoffrey George Boot is an English-born politician who until 2021 served as a Member of the House of Keys for Glenfaba and Peel. Before moving to the Isle of Man, Boot also served as a Conservative Councillor and Mayor for Sandgate in Kent.