Douglas, Isle Of Man

Visiting The Isle of Man Railway

Two of my friends i(Bob and Tony) n our Manchester University Hall of Residence were both train buffs and motorcyclists so one early summer weekend in 1967 we rode our bikes on a Friday evening down the "East Lancs Road" to Liverpool where we caught an overnight ferry to Douglas.

I remember very fondy a breakfast of Manx kippers... [more]

Peckham the Fishmonger

My great grandfather, Henry William Peckham was a fishmonger, mentioned in Brown's Directory of 1882.  He is reputed to have owned some land on the coast/beach/promenade at Douglas.  Here fish was sold 'on the front' from a table.
My father was born at Douglas in 1896 and stories have carried forward of his sisters, or aunts, still selling fish there in... [more]

Isle of Man Photographic Memories

Port Skillion at the foot of Douglas Head was reached by ferry from the harbour, fare 1d, and was used by gentlemen only for open-air bathing. Ladies wishing to avail themselves of the efficacious pleasures to be experienced from sea-bathing were expected to engage the use of a bathing machine.

Victorian and Edwardian Maritime Album

It could be said that the life of Sir William Hillary (1771-1847) was the stuff of ripping yarns. A knight of St John of Jerusalem, soldier, author and philanthropist, he was also a suspected bigamist, who settled in the Isle of Man in order to put a few miles and a little water between himself and his creditors, and to bury quietly the murkier details... [more]

Isle of Man Photographic Memories

The Falcon Cliff Hotel is little more than a dot on the landscape on the left of the picture. Below that, however, is the imposing bulk of the Palace and New Opera House which opened in 1889 and featured what was then the largest ballroom in Europe.